THE HEART MOUNTAIN DRAFT RESISTERS
SCRIPT EXCERPT
| NARRATOR 1: | What became of the defendants in the Heart Mountain trials? Jimmie Omura may have escaped conviction, but his career as a newspaperman was over. He became a landscape gardener. Upon release from Leavenworth, Frank Emi worked for the postal service and later the California state employment office. He also taught judo as an eighth-degree black belt. In the 1980s, he joined the Japanese-American redress movement and publicly spoke out about his wartime civil disobedience. Emi passed away on December 1, 2010, at the age of 94. |
| NARRATOR 2: | And in June 2014, two of the original Heart Mountain draft resisters, Yoshito Kuromiya and Tak Hoshizaki, joined a presentation of this program in Cody, Wyoming, just a few miles from the site of the Heart Mountain internment camp. They were in their 90s, and Mr. Kuromiya played himself. |
| NARRATOR 1: | All told, some 315 Japanese-American men defied the draft in World War II. They were by far the minority, as the great majority answered their induction orders, reporting to fight for freedom overseas even as they and their families were held in concentration camps. In some respects, those who said “no” were just as courageous as those who fought. They took a stand even as critics labeled them cowardly draft dodgers, and there were whispers that they just “didn’t want to get shot at.” After the resisters were arrested, their families were ostracized by other camp residents. When the War ended, those who fought were welcomed home as heroes, while the resisters remained in prison until they completed their sentences and were then released as convicted felons. Later, when some of the resisters were drafted again to fight in the Korean War, they served willingly, for their rights had finally been clarified when President Truman granted them a pardon. |
| NARRATOR 2: | Most of the draft resisters were not willing to tell their stories for decades. For Japanese-Americans and for Americans generally, it was the heroism of the Fighting 442nd that inspired, not the principles of the draft resisters. Only recently did the resisters begin to tell their story, and only recently have even the heroes of the 442nd acknowledged their contribution. Senator Inouye, a member of the 442nd, remarked as follows: |
| [Inouye takes front and center] | |
| INOUYE: | In this climate of hate, many felt the necessity of stepping forward to volunteer for service in the military to prove their loyalty to the United States. These men for the most part carried out their military obligations with much courage and valor.
However, in this climate of hate, I believe that it took just as much courage and valor and patriotism to stand up to our government and say “you are wrong.” I am glad that there were some who had the courage to express some of the feelings that we who volunteered harbored deep in our souls. |
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