Review’s epic moment: Supporting Japanese Americans in WWII

Everyone on Bainbridge Island seems to know about how the Review was the only newspaper in the nation to support Japanese Americans when they were interned during World War II.

That story has been well-documented, not only in the newspaper, but in many other publications. Still, the Japanese American Exclusion Memorial on BI reminds everyone “to never forget.”

After Japan bombed Pearl Harbor, fear spread across the nation. Even in this area hidden outposts were placed along the Strait of Juan de Fuca to watch for Japanese warships. But on BI, Japanese Americans were an important part of the community. They were friends and neighbors, farmers and business owners, and few were concerned they would become spies for Japan.

So when they were rounded up and sent to internment camps, many on BI were outraged. To this day, many on BI call them concentration camps, although not to the extent of the ones in Germany where prisoners were put to death. Walt and Milly Woodward, who owned the paper, spoke out time and time in stories and editorials about the internment. When the war ended, many islanders welcomed the Japanese Americans back with open arms.

Before Pearl Harbor

As the war raged in Europe against Hitler, Japanese Americans on BI served there.

In a Bainbridge Island Japanese American video on their website, Taketo Omoto explains how he was drafted before Pearl Harbor and was paid $21 a month. After Pearl Harbor, he was concerned when others in the military got drunk. “I was afraid they might harm me. But I was never in harm’s way.” In another video, he says four in his family were in the Army. He served in the war for four years, and his mother was interned during that time.

In 1940, the Woodwards, barely 30, bought the paper from Claire Peters; they had been partners.

Mary Woodward, a daughter of the publishers, says in a BIJAC video that the U.S. was neutral in the war at that time, but a British ship was being repaired at the Naval Shipyard in Bremerton so it passed within several hundred feet of BI. It had been in a bloody battle. The Navy asked the media for a voluntary censorship of the information, and the Seattle papers obliged. But her parents felt an obligation to their readers. And, besides, in the small community of BI it wasn’t a secret. The Associated Press ignored it, but United Press International picked it up.

The Woodwards explained their actions Sept. 5, 1941 when above the flag on Page 1 was the headline: “Review violates national censorship!” (A combined news article and editorial). It basically says it yielded to an unofficial government censorship, but then came to the conclusion to write about it because of “a solemn duty to our readers.” The following week’s paper says Time magazine picked up the editorial and article.

Hawaii attacked

In another video, Mary Woodward says the paper put out a one-page War Extra! the day after Pearl Harbor. About half the page was devoted to what folks should do for safety’s sake: Don’t drive at night; cover your windows when your lights are on, etc. The other half of the page was devoted to local Japanese Americans, which was 1/17th of the population. There also was an editorial that read, “Let’s be reasonable.”

On Sept. 9, two days after the bombing of Pearl Harbor, the paper’s War Extra! says: Island defense set! Leaders prepare for blackout! Other headlines on that historic Page 1 say: Japanese leaders here, pledge loyalty to America; Church bells hushed; and Air-raid warning.

The day after Pearl Harbor the Woodwards warned: “There is the danger of a blind, wild hysterical hatred of all persons who can trace ancestry to Japan. That some of those persons happen to be American citizens…easily could be swept aside by mob hysteria. These Japanese Americans haven’t bombed anybody…They have given every indication of loyalty to this nation. They have sent…their own sons—six of them—into the United States Army.”

During the war, the Navy regarded BI as a highly sensitive area. Fort Ward, a strategic military listening post-monitoring communication in the Pacific, was located here. Nearby are Bremerton Naval Shipyard and the Naval Torpedo Station at Keyport. BI was selected as the first community where Japanese Americans were evacuated and detained, most likely because of its close proximity to several military installations.

In January 1942, the FBI began to raid the homes of Japanese families. The FBI was searching for and seizing war contraband. Japanese American islanders were allowed six days to prepare to leave for the internment camps from the Eagledale Ferry Landing.

In a video on the BIJAC website, Mary Woodward says her parents thought it was wrong based on the U.S. Constitution for people to be rounded up based on their ethnic background without any arrest, any day in court, due process of law was out the window, and it was all because there might be a spy. Of the 120,000 who were interned, none was ever charged with a crime. At the time, few said what the government was doing was wrong.

“Everybody was very patriotic. It was the good thing to be, patriotic, and to accept what your government said.” She goes on to say her parents found it hard to believe that German Americans and Italian Americans weren’t part of it. “That indeed they were just targeting on the basic of race this one group from the West Coast.”

In another video, Mary Woodward explains how islanders responded to her parents’ stance. Some pulled ads and canceled subscriptions. But a druggist, for example, said he needed more papers because he was selling out.

In her book “In Defense of Our Neighbors: The Walt and Milly Woodward Story,” daughter Mary Woodward recalls Bainbridge High School baseball coach Walt “Pop” Miller sitting star players so his six Japanese American players could go up against North Kitsap. They fell behind 12-5 because he just wanted “all the Japanese Americans to play their last game for Bainbridge and enjoy themselves,” centerfielder Paul Ohtaki said. At the 1942 graduation, 13 chairs were left empty in recognition of those students.

In March, a Page 1 headline in the Review says, Japanese here face eviction. The next week’s headline says, Ouster means big loss for school, crop. Two weeks later: Island Japanese accept Army mandate for move to Owen Valley, CA. The following week: Evacuees sing on trip.

The war

It was the editorial page, many on the front page, where the paper stood out, calling for a swift response to Japan’s attack in its Dec. 8, 1941 paper. Of course, that’s where continued support for local Japanese Americans also was called for throughout the war.

About 66 Japanese American men and women from BI ended up serving in the war, joining 33,000 nationwide. One highly decorated infantry unit included 16 men from BI who saw brutal fighting in Italy and France, suffering the highest combat casualty rate of any American unit.

Military Intelligence Services in the Pacific included 16 men from BI who were interpreters and interrogated prisoners of war. They were praised by Gen. Douglas MacArthur, and Maj. Gen. Sir John Willoughby said, “The Nisei shortened the Pacific war by two years and saved possibly a million American lives.”

The Woodwards also hired camp correspondents to write columns for the Review from Manzanar and later Minidoka throughout the war. Paul Ohtaki, followed by Sada Omoto, Tony Koura and Sa Koura, wrote about the daily lives of the islanders in camp, covering news such as births, deaths, weddings, sicknesses, baseball statistics and even pranks played by youngsters. The columns helped the island Nikkei to return not as strangers, but as the same old friends they were when they left.

The Page 1 stories in the Review during the war years often featured city news and deaths as the top stories, with some local war news sprinkled in.

War ends

Interestingly enough, the Review downplayed the end of World War II with a short story on Page 1 with the headline: The war is over! Even a local story the next week had a much larger headline: School board OKs community use field. It was the same on the editorial page. Instead of anything on the war readers learned that Mrs. Johnson retired.

Of course, after the war, the paper wrote about Japanese Americans coming home, with headlines like: Evacuees move from Idaho camp, Alien order rescinded, Army Capt. speaks here for Nisei aid and Army WRA offer help to evacuees.

After Japan surrendered a month after the atomic bombs were dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Japanese Americans started returning to BI. Some did not return because they had rented homes prior to the war and had nothing to return to. But over half did return and were successful in rebuilding their lives. All were grateful to the Woodwards for helping to create a welcoming environment.

About 150 of the 272 exiled islanders returned to BI. Readers wrote Letters to the Editor to share their feelings. Several inflammatory letters in opposition to the Japanese return to BI were published. But the Woodwards and other islanders wrote in opposition to that, which allowed for a quiet and uneventful return for the Japanese Americans to BI.

When the Takemoto family returned their house was in shambles, personal property taken and strawberry farm filled with weeds. The community responded to help them get going.

In a BIJAC video, Frank Kitamoto says: “Bainbridge is a very exceptional place. That there were people here that were willing to stick out their necks for us even before we left and while we were gone. I know… well, people like the Woodwards and their paper, but also the Meyers’ with their insurances. I mean, people wouldn’t sell people insurance here when we got back.” He goes on to say: “And I know the Andersons from Anderson Hardware paid some back taxes on the Harui property when no one did so that wouldn’t be taken over. I know people like Mr. Burkmeyer… Burk, Burkhalter, excuse me, was an attorney, did some legal things for people.”

In another video, Kay Nakao says when her parents came home their renter would not move out of the house. So her family lived in the basement. Her dad started cooking up dishes. Apparently, the renter didn’t like the smell and ended up moving out. But overall, “It was almost like we didn’t have a war…Everything was just fine…Bainbridge Island is a wonderful place to live, I tell you.”