LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
Nichi Bei Times, Tuesday, September 18, 2001

Sacramento Nisei VFW Post Develops Resolution in Opposition of Apology to Draft Resisters

Dear Editor:

Sacramento Nisei VFW Post 8985 has developed a Resolu­tion in opposition to the Na­tional Japanese American Citi­zens League's Resolution #2 which purports to forgive, honor and formally apologize to the Nisei Draft Resisters of World War II. Members of the Sacramento Nisei VFW Post 8985 are in strong opposition to any notion of any apology to the Draft Resisters.

For the Nisei Veterans to remain silent would be tantamount to betraying the 830 Nisei comrades Killed in Action (KIA) on the battlefield and the many who were maimed and scarred for life. That is far too great a sacrifice to put aside in order to appease the Nisei Draft Resisters of World War II.

Certainly, any veteran of the 100th, 442nd Regimental Combat Team nor the Military Intelligence Service owes no apol­ogy to the Nisei Draft Resisters of World War II. During World War II, our ideological differences were miles apart. Fears of violence and sleeping with a baseball bat at the bedside was real. Somehow, history has been revised to make the Draft Resisters more acceptable today.

It would also be a betrayal to the wartime JACL leaders who recognized that "service to the country" was a means to refute the evacuation order and get back into the mainstream of American life. How true that thesis is when one considers today's many "success stories" of the Japanese Americans, including many voted into high governmental positions through the election process.

I submit to you, that would not have been possible without the heroic stories of the men of the 100th/442nd RCT and the Military Intelligence Service (MI5) unit looming as voters went to the polls.

Post 8985 Resolution Committee: Leo Hosoda, Tom Fujimoto, Barry Saiki, James Iso, Gary Shioto, Tom Kashiwabara, Sus Satow

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