Boy Scouts Crossed Lines Into Japanese Internment Camps During WWII

[T2Eagle]

I found this tucked into a story in the New York Times today. 

 

Former Senator Alan Simpson was on an Atlantic cruise this week with another congressional sponsor of the 1988 bill apologizing for the Japanese internment during WWII, Norman Y. Mineta, continuing a seven decades long friendship that began at the Heart Mountain internment camp in Wyoming.  In the early 1940s, Mr. Mineta was a preteenager from San Jose, Calif., who lived inside the camp. Mr. Simpson was the same age, growing up 14 miles away in Cody.

 

Japanese-American adults at the cold, windswept Heart Mountain had formed Boy Scout troops for the children there, and each day, the scouts would raise the American flag and recite the Pledge of Allegiance.  At one point, the adults decided to invite scouts from nearby towns to a Jamboree.

 

In Cody and Powell, stores, restaurants and hotels had posted “No Japs Allowed†signs. But, over the misgivings of some, scouts in the town — including the young Mr. Simpson — went to Heart Mountain, passing behind the barbed wire, guard towers, guns and search lights.

 

He and Mr. Mineta stayed in touch through the years, and reunited in Congress. 

 

[Krampus]

I worked with Sen. Simpson from 1987-1992. Had occasion to work with Mr. Mineta. Both great human beings.

[gumbymaster]

I had the great pleasure for Mr. Mineta to be a guest speaker at my Eagle COR.

 

I liked him, even if my politics don't always agree.

[Shriscov]

I read that all the Japanese internment camps during the War had Boy Scout troops.  It's interesting that Scouting operates in distressed times because it has a natural draw for youth.