On 14 Jan 1942, President Franklin Roosevelt issued Presidential Proclamation No. 2537, requiring aliens from WWII-enemy countries–Italy, Germany and Japan–to register with the US Department of Justice. Registered persons were then issued a Certificate of Identification for Aliens of Enemy Nationality. A follow-up to the Alien Registration Act of 1940, Proclamation No. 2537 facilitated the beginning of full-scale internment of Japanese Americans the following month.
We treated Japanese Americans shamefully–and unconstitutionally. How did they respond? They petitioned the federal govt to allow them to enlist in our Army. This was finally granted and they were formed into the 442nd Infantry Regt, which fought in Europe–and became the most decorated unit in the Army’s history.
They taught the rest of the American population how Americans should act.
