Life and Death (But Mostly Death) in the Camps
With the already exceedingly harsh conditions in the camps. Life proved to be extremely wearisome for the people living in them. Yet people still found several ways to keep themselves busy. Despite the surrounding towers, barbed wire, and armed soldiers ready to shoot anyone suspected of attempting to escape did. In which a few unfortunate cases, did occur. Citing the History.com Website "At the Topaz Relocation Center, 63-year-old prisoner James Hatsuki Wakasa was shot and killed by military police after walking near the perimeter fence. Two months later, a couple was shot at for strolling near the fence." These harsh conditions angered several of the prisoners in these camps. Resulting in several incidents ranging from protests, to full scale riots. Worsening to the point that "In October 1943, the Army deployed tanks and soldiers to Tule Lake Segregation Center in northern California to crack down on protests. Japanese American prisoners at Tule Lake had been striking over food shortages and unsafe conditions that had led to an accidental death in October 1943" Once again citing the History.com Website.
Japanese American Life During Internment (U.S. National Park Service). (2020, May 12). National Park Service.
https://www.nps.gov/articles/japanese-americaninternment-archeology.htm |
These problems only continued to worsen as war progressed. With any hopes of them being released. Prisoners at the camps started to search for legal ways to escape. Which the US government did actually offer. Options included filling out a WRA (The War Relocation Authority, the conglomorate meant to replace the WCCA) Questionarre, which was mostly an effort to accurately discern which citizens in the camps were either "loyal" or disloyal". Later allowing Japanese Americans to enlist in the army in 1943. But due to the risks involved, few still opted to enlist. Instead choosing to take the case of their imprisonment to court.