Title: U.S. Propaganda Film Shows 'Normal' Life in WWII Japanese Internment Camps - HISTORY
Headings: U.S. Propaganda Film Shows 'Normal' Life in WWII Japanese Internment Camps
U.S. Propaganda Film Shows 'Normal' Life in WWII Japanese Internment Camps
Life in the Camps
The Fighting 442nd
The U.S. Finally Apologies
FACT CHECK: We strive for accuracy and fairness. But if you see something that doesn't look right, click here to contact us! HISTORY reviews and updates its content regularly to ensure it is complete and accurate.
SIGN UP FOR MORE HISTORY!

Content: In the camps, prisoners were offered the opportunity to work (with pay not to exceed that of an Army private) in jobs that ranged from camp staff, including doctors and teachers, to laboring in nearby farms and factories. At several prison camps, workers were even paid to make camouflage nets to be used by the American army. But it was impossible to overlook the packed accommodations, often poor provisions, and other hardships faced by the camp inmates who had been stripped of their freedom. “ I knew that we were so-called Japanese. I thought I was American too, but I found out I wasn’t. I thought I was American the whole time.” said Bill Shishima, who was 11 when his family was forced to leave Los Angeles following the attack on Pearl Harbor. The Fighting 442nd
While many of their families were spending the war years dislocated from their homes and treated as prisoners in their own country, 13,000 American men of Japanese heritage—including some who had initially been incarcerated in the camps—volunteered for the army. In 1943, Roosevelt reversed his initial decree forbidding Japanese-American men from joining up, and those who subsequently volunteered made up the 442nd Regimental Combat Team. This regiment would go down in history as one of the most decorated units in the U.S. Army during World War II, and over 700 soldiers from the 442nd would give their lives in the war.