Japanese Internment: Will We Ever Know The Truth? Would The Truth Make It Moral? In 1942, 120,000 Japanese-Americans were “relocated” to areas far from their homes, out of the fear the United States Government held inside their hearts. Japan hadjust bombed Pearl Harbor. Many of the U.S. seaport areas on the West coast wereinhabited by Japanese-Americans. General DeWitt provided a “security plan” for bothUnited States citizens (Caucasian) and the Japanese-Americans...or so it was stated. However, when seeking the fine details of this incident, will we ever know the absolutetruth? The Official Government documents drastically contrast the first-hand accounts ofwhat it was like in those “Pioneer Communities.” Each source changes the story behindthe Japanese-American Internment slightly. Can truth truly exist once it becomes a partof the past? By looking at both governmental and personal accounts of the Internment,only small similarities carry throughout.In the “Instructions to All Persons of Japanese Ancestry,” John L. DeWitt,lieutenant general of the Western Defense Command, posted on April 30th, 1942,instructed all Japanese descendants, whether born inside or outside of the United Statesthat they were not to change residences after 12:00 PM on this very day, and that allwould be evacuated from their homes no later than May 7th, 1942 - only one week later. There were no reasons behind this “evacuation,” and there were no explanations as towhat was going to happen after such an evacuation. Thorough plans for preparation wereprovided, such as the offering of assistance from the Civil Control Station to help sell ordispose of all personal or business property, and to provide temporary residence for allJapanese in family groups. The instructions on this evacuation were very precise, and didnot allow for any compromise:“THE FOLLOWING INSTRUCTIONS MUST BE OBSERVED:......
