CHAPTER THIRTEEN: THE ROLE OF THE MILITARY POLICE IN PROVIDING EXTERNAL SECURITY FOR THE MANZANAR WAR RELOCATION CENTER (continued) MILITARY POLICE UNIT OPERATIONS AT MANZANAR WAR RELOCATION CENTER: 1942-45 Camp Manzanar As aforementioned in Chapter Eight of this study, a group of buildings, referred to as the "Military Police Group" and generally known as the "military camp" or "Camp Manzanar, was constructed "south and immediately adjacent to the Relocation Center, separated by a five-strand barbed-wire fence." The military encampment was separated from the relocation center "by an unoccupied open space of level ground about 200 yards from the southerly boundary" of the latter. The facilities were "adequate for one Escort Guard Company of Military Police." [8] First Military Police Unit at Manzanar: 747th Military Police Escort Guard Company. In a report prepared in early April 1942, Melton E. Silverman, feature writer for the San Francisco Chronicle, discussed the first military police unit to be assigned to external guard duty at Manzanar. Silverman noted that "Lieutenant Harvey Severson and his company of the 747th Battalion of Military Police" had arrived at Manzanar from Fort Ord, a military base located near Monterey, on March 19, two days before the first evacuees arrived at the center. Silverman quoted Severson as claiming that the "men don't like this job." The lieutenant reportedly observed that he could not "blame them very much" "They've been trained and educated to kill Japs, and here they're supposed to protect them." Silverman went on to describe his perception of the military police during the first several weeks of the camp's operation. He stated:
Silverman also noted that residents in nearby Owens Valley towns were irritated by the behavior of some of the military police. One of the military police had 'accidentally" killed a fellow soldier at Manzanar, necessitating an investigation by the county coroner at the taxpayers' expense. [10] Investigation of Military Police, May 1942 In late May 1942, J. A. Strickland, Assistant Chief, Interior Security Section, conducted an investigation of the military police at Manzanar for the Western Defense Command. After his investigation, he reported on his findings which were passed along to his superiors and to WRA officials in Washington. During the investigation Strickland contacted law enforcement officials in Independence, Lone Pine, and Bishop, as well as District Attorney George Francis. Assistant District Attorney John McMurray, and Superior Judge William D. Dehy in Independence. The "consensus of opinion" of these men, according to Strickland, was that "the Military Police [enlisted personnel] at Manzanar are misfits." The men he talked to had "no love for the evacuees, but they did not "think it proper nor becoming to the Army to have a man going around the county bragging about having shot" an evacuee who had strayed outside the fence at Manzanar. Private Edward Phillips, the military policeman who shot the evacuee, was "guilty of this in his talks" with individuals. Private Beckmeyer, "who seems to be subject to St. Vitus dance or some disease that causes a continuous jerking of the muscles," made local law enforcement officials nervous," and they were "all afraid of this man being trusted with a gun." The law enforcement officials did "not ask for the best that the Army has to guard the evacuees," but they believed "that we should have at least average Army men entrusted with this duty." Discipline between the officers and the enlisted personnel of the military police company was "not at par with Army regulations." The enlisted men, 'while on duty at the center, as well as while visiting the towns, are oftentimes untidy, dirty and slovenly in appearance. Strickland commented on the relationship between the military police authorities and the interior police at Manzanar. He found this relationship to be "satisfactory," "close cooperation being maintained by both groups." The relationship between "the Center Manager and the military authorities," however, seemed "to be strained from the Center Management side." According to Strickland, Roy Nash, the first WRA Project Director, left "the burden of discipline completely to the Army," while he was "desirous of allowing total freedom to the evacuees. Concerning the relationship between the military police and the evacuees, Strickland noted that since "the shooting of the evacuee by the Military Police, the evacuees have enclosed their feelings in a shell." The evacuees were "resigned to the fact that the military authorities are in charge and that they will be punished or shot if they venture across the sentry lines." However, there was the feeling that although "the evacuee who was shot was wrong in being beyond the sentry line, even though given permission by the sentry, after he had been shot and no punishment directed toward the patrolman, at least the patrolman should not be allowed the freedom of the county in which to brag about the shooting." This information "came from an evacuee in the center who had not been outside and his information must have been open to the evacuees in the center." [11] Construction of Guard Towers (also referred to as Observation or Watch Towers) On May 7, 1942, War Relocation Authority officials visited Manzanar as negotiations were underway for transfer of the center from the Wartime Civil Control Administration to the WRA to become effective on June 1. Following the visit, John H. Provinse, chief of the WRA Community Services Section reported to WRA Director Militon Eisenhower that it was proposed
By early June the towers were under construction despite WRA objections. The Manzanar Free Press carried a somewhat disingenuous article on June 6 reporting on the progress of the construction:
On July 31, Project Director Nash delivered a speech to the Commonwealth Club of California in San Francisco during which he outlined the responsibilities of the military police at the camp as well as the measures that had been taken to ensure its external security. Among other things, he noted:
322nd Military Police Escort Guard Company, June 1942 During June 1942, the 322nd Military Police Escort Guard Company, was transferred to Manzanar, replacing the 747th which had provided external security at the camp since March 19. Most members of the military unit were recruits from New York and New Jersey. Like the members of the 747th, most of the recruits in this company had no prior experience with Japanese, and for many it was their first glimpse of Japanese. [15] On July 8 Sergeant George Reed of the 322nd suffered severe burns on his right arm and leg as a result of a gas tank explosion at the military compound at Manzanar. He was taken to the Manzanar hospital and placed under the personal care of Dr. James Goto. It was anticipated that he would be a patient in the hospital for several weeks. [16]
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