Looking Like the Enemy
Mary Matsuda Gruenewald, Looking Like the Enemy: My Story of Imprisonment in Japanese American Internment Camps
1. Why are interned Japanese Americans referred to as the “silent generation” (p.x)?
They were referred to as the silent generation because many of them did not speak about their experiences to anyone, not even their children after their times in imprisonment. They were a silent generation.
2. What were the specific challenges Gruenewald and other interned Japanese Americans faced in “camp” life? How did individuals and families adapt to these changes?
Camp life for Gruenewald and the others in the interment camps in California was hot, with bad food, and absolutely no privacy. Their showers were in one large commune, and their laundry room held nothing but deep sinks and soap. There meals were given to them, and there were no cooking facilities or running water for them to be able to prepare their own meals. Those in the interment camps in California dealt with heat up to one hundred and fifteen-degree heat. They were prisoners within their own country and treated like outlaws. Many suffered from pure boredom while spending months at the internment camps with nothing to do.
3. What conflicts did Questions 27 and 28 create? Who were the “No-No” boys?
• “are you willing to serve in the armed forces of the united states on combat duty, wherever ordered?” • “will you swear unqualified allegiance to the united states of America and faithfully defend the united states form any or all attack by foreign or domestic forces, and forswear any form of allegiance or obedience to the Japanese emperor, to any other foreign government power or organization?”
These questions were questions focused to see who had security clearance for military service in the United States. They already had showed their loyalty by willing fully spending months in interment camps. If one were to say no to either of these
1. Why are interned Japanese Americans referred to as the “silent generation” (p.x)?
They were referred to as the silent generation because many of them did not speak about their experiences to anyone, not even their children after their times in imprisonment. They were a silent generation.
2. What were the specific challenges Gruenewald and other interned Japanese Americans faced in “camp” life? How did individuals and families adapt to these changes?
Camp life for Gruenewald and the others in the interment camps in California was hot, with bad food, and absolutely no privacy. Their showers were in one large commune, and their laundry room held nothing but deep sinks and soap. There meals were given to them, and there were no cooking facilities or running water for them to be able to prepare their own meals. Those in the interment camps in California dealt with heat up to one hundred and fifteen-degree heat. They were prisoners within their own country and treated like outlaws. Many suffered from pure boredom while spending months at the internment camps with nothing to do.
3. What conflicts did Questions 27 and 28 create? Who were the “No-No” boys?
• “are you willing to serve in the armed forces of the united states on combat duty, wherever ordered?” • “will you swear unqualified allegiance to the united states of America and faithfully defend the united states form any or all attack by foreign or domestic forces, and forswear any form of allegiance or obedience to the Japanese emperor, to any other foreign government power or organization?”
These questions were questions focused to see who had security clearance for military service in the United States. They already had showed their loyalty by willing fully spending months in interment camps. If one were to say no to either of these