Studs Entry 6

Peter Ota:

        Ota was a man of Japanese decent living in America during a really ugly time in American history. I knew going in that this would be a story that really made me feel bad about the way that the US treated individuals. This is exactly what I found because it all began when Ota's family was wrongfully arrested and eventual sentences to Santa Anita for detainment. The conditions at this detainment facility were bad, to say the least. People were all jammed into tight, uncomfortable quarters. "Everything was communal. We had absolutely no privacy" (206).  This is so wrong because these people were wrongfully detained. It took them a fully year to meet back with his father, who was a really strong man. He rarely showed emotions. He would say "you preserve." Take what's coming" (206). Everyone in the family had changed after Santa Anita. They were then transfered to Amache, Colorado, where they live in "Prison camp" like conditions. Finally Peter was able to leave due to job exemptions, and eventually he had become the age in which you have to register for the draft. Ironically enough he got drafted and had to fight in the war. What is even more "ironic" is the fact that his family is being detained as he fought. He was mistreated and called a "Dirty Jap" (208). He was finally able to return home to his family; home being the camp. He finally decided that he need to change after the war, and this made him decide to abandon Japanese culture. This story is truly agonizing because it hurts to learn of the things that Americans did to the poor, innocent Japanese.  This connects to class when we talked about this executive order.

Betty Hutchinson:

        Hutchinson was a nurse during the war. She felt that this was a really good and beneficial way to join the war effort. She recalled that she saw people she knew dying, and this made her feel the need to help. Nurses were not completely prepared going into the war, and it came as a surprise to her when she really understood and saw the really war. She could finally relate to the tragedy of war. She recalled how she was "struck by the horror of it" (213). After a while, she was finally able to adapt to her position, and eventually she was comfortable enough to joke with the patients. She recalled "the war marked me, but I put it behind me" (217). This was after she returned back to Pasadena, and it is interesting the way that she responded with anger toward our future wars. She said that her son was a "conscientious object."She saw so much while she was at war that it really made here rethink her life. She was completely effected by the way that literally saw people dying before her eyes. It made her hate war, and it is tough to directly connect to this, yet I can see how a traumatic expierieince like this can cause this outstanding opinion.