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Go for Broke: 442nd Regimental Combat Team
By Tracy L. Barnett
Nisei unit fought with distinction—Japanese–American GIs recount stories of war
WATSONVILLE—Nobody has to tell Tom Goto he's a hero. Long ago, he gave away the official recognition of his bravery:
a Purple Heart. He's not one to tell war stories. After 50 years, he still shakes his head quietly and says, "I don't need to
remember those things. I'd rather forget."
Left for dead with a belly full of shrapnel in the Vosges Mountains of France, Goto says it's enough to just be alive. The
self-effacing silence of Goto and his companion of the "Go For Broke" 100th/442nd Regimental Combat Team kept a
generation of Japanese–American heroes in the shadows of U.S. history for decades. Scores of the former members of
the most-decorated military unit in World War II came from Santa Cruz County, most from Watsonville.
It was members of the 442nd who shot the lock off the gate at Dachau; they fought their way through the Vosges
Mountains to rescue the "Lost Battalion." They accomplished the deadly ambush of Italy's Gothic Line, climbing a cliff in
silence and total darkness as some fell to their deaths without uttering so much as a whimper.
Until now, they've kept their history folded away in the closet along with their medals. But the time has come for their
story to be told. "I think the ice has been broken, and it's OK to talk now," said Terri DeBono, a Monterey filmmaker who
just completed a documentary on the 442nd, "Beyond Barbed Wire." The Film will cap off the Pacific Rim Film Festival
with a Monday screening at the Fox Theater in Watsonville, follow by a reception for the veterans.
"They're so full of humility, self-effacing; they give credit to everyone else but themselves," said DeBono. "They'll tell you
what their buddy did, but they won't tell you what they did."
DeBono and her partner Steve Rosen, who directed the film, befriended Monterey veteran Yokio Sumida and his wife,
Mollie.
Yokio finally said, "If we don' tell this story, who will?"
We were just amazed at the story of these small men and what they were asked to do. They were put at the head of
many of the battles and were so determined prove their loyalty.
They were fighting like mad men. ... I can't believe we don't know this story, that it slipped by the pages of history.
Some of the men went straight from the internment camps to the front lines. Others, like Santa Cruz native Henry Arao
and Watsonville native Yoshio Fujita left their families behind in the camps to take on some of the War's most difficult
and dangerous assignments.
Arao, who left behind his father, four brothers and two sisters in the Poston, Ariz. internment camp shrugs off the irony.
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�"We figured we wanted to show them that we were just as much an American as anyone else."
Etched into his memory is the sight of companion Sadao Minamari, who threw himself onto a grenade to save his squad
from almost certain death. Arao was only about 100 feet away at the time. Minamari received a posthumous Medal of
Honor, America's highest military decoration.
Arao doesn't like to talk about it, but his own Distinguished Service Cross and Purple Heart are locked away in a safedeposit box. He received the honor for dashing out into a clearing to save the life of his wounded squad leader during
the fateful rescue of the Lost Battalion.
In "The Lost Battalions: Going for Broke in the Vosges" by Soquel resident Franz Steidl, the Alamo Regiment (so named
because of their San Antonio origin) had been cut off for six days in the fall of 1944 without food and water in the heavy
forests of the Vosges Mountains of eastern France. The 442nd was sent into the rugged terrain to rescue the surrounded
soldiers. A barrage of machine gun fire and mortars from the German troops on the hilltop rained down on the men,
taking them out in droves.
"The worst was the tree bursts," said Goto, describing the explosions of mortars in the treetops that rained hot metal
and splinters down on the men. "You can hear it whistling before it comes down, but by then it's too late."
The dense growth of the Vosges forest was legendary, lending a Vietnam-like quality to the nightmarish experience.
The big difference from Vietnam, however, was the bitter cold. Soldiers slept in the snow, were pelted by rain and
impeded by fog so thick they could barely see their hands in front of their faces. Soldiers suffered from frostbite and
trench foot so severe they could barely walk; some had to have their boots cut off when they finally made their way
back.
"The daytime sun doesn't penetrate there; it's dark as hell," said Goto. "We said, 'Go for Broke,' but there was really no
alternative. There was no place else to go."
The battalion was left with three times as many casualties as the number of men they rescued. More than 100 were
killed in the four day charge.
"We were charging uphill all the time, and they [the Germans] were just sitting on the hill waiting for us with machine
guns," said Arao "They had the hills loaded with mines. If you walked in the wrong spot, you'd get your leg blown off—
and a lot of men did. We actually didn't have a chance."
Arao, who became leader of his squad of 17 when his own squad leader was hit by a mortar burst has also been silent
about the ordeal for 50 years. Finally, with great deal of urging, he's begun to talk.
"I went into that deal with 17 men and only four made it out," he said. "It just seems like it wouldn't be right to talk too
much about it. I lost a lot of good people, but I was lucky enough to come home."
Japanese–American soldiers during WWII had to fight two battles: one against the Nazis, the other against
discrimination. As then-President Harry S. Truman put it, they won both.
Yoshio Fujita served as a scout and a communications man during the war, stringing miles of wire along the rough
terrain to connect the telephones the troops used. He doesn't talk much about the internment camp where his family
stayed, sleeping in converted horse stalls. But when he thinks of the unfair treatment his fellow Japanese Americans
confronted, his eye tear with the rage of injustice.
The signs were everywhere, even in his hometown of Watsonville: "No Japs Allowed." He finally decided he couldn't take
anymore. One day, before he was shipped overseas, he went into a restaurant to confront the owner:
"How come you've got that sign up?" he demanded of the first person he saw, a waiter.
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�"Can't you read? It means what it says," retorted the man.
"I can read," Fujita responded evenly. "But I'm going to go over protect your hide, and you'd better take that damned
thing down or you're not going to have any windows and doors left in this place. I'm going to tear them all down."
Fujita served in the 522nd Field Artillery unit of the 442nd, the unit that opened the gates at Dachau, freeing the Nazi
concentration camp victims. He never saw the camp, because he was one of the ones sent ahead, but he heard the
stories. He confronted a well-dressed Jew on the streets before the rescue and asked him how he came to be free.
"I'm not like those stupid ones in the camp who opposed Hitler," said the man, as Fujita recalls it. "I work with the Nazis,
and I'm fat and happy and I smoke good cigars."
Fujita's eyes tear again with disbelief. "I don't understand how he could live with himself," he said.
The 100th/442nd Regimental Combat Team was 4,500 strong, but members received 18,143 individual decorations for
bravery, including nearly 10,000 Purple Hearts. Thirty-eight members of the team came from Santa Cruz County, of a
total of nearly 100 Santa Cruz County residents who served during World War II.
Nearly 20 of them served in military intelligence, using their linguistic skills to penetrate enemy lines, break secret codes,
translate documents and perform a variety of other tasks. Two were the brothers of retired Watsonville High School
history teacher Mas Hashimoto, who served out the war in the internment camps.
Hashimoto said he has been trying to get local vets to tell their story for years. He doesn't mince words when he speaks
of the treatment of the Nisei, the first-generation American-born children of Japanese parents, during the war. The
442nd was used as cannon fodder, he believes, time and time again being sent into situations deemed too dangerous for
white soldiers.
"They were expendable," said Hashimoto. "At first no one wanted the Japanese Americans. Again and again, they got
the dirty jobs."
Hashimoto tells the story of Merle's Marauders, the Nisei troops who parachuted into the jungles of Burma. Fourteen
Nisi linguists were among them.
"They were the ones who not only captured Japanese documents and translated them, they endured unbelievable
casualties; of 2,000 guys, only about 200 survived. They went through hundreds and hundreds of miles of jungle and
went beyond what anyone could be expected to endure."
His brother, Tadashi Hashimoto on detached service to the Marine Corps, served in the Pacific Islands and Japan. Serving
in the islands was especially difficult for Japanese–Americans, who were fired on by both sides: the Japanese, who saw
their American uniforms, and the Americans, who saw their Japanese features.
"He was good at interrogating the prisoners, at getting them loosen up and talk about their commanders and regiment,"
said Hashimoto. "He didn't wear a helmet, because he didn't want to shot by his Marine buddies. And at night he was to
stay in the tent and come out only in daylight; otherwise, he'd be shot."
To DeBono, the men of the 442 have marked a unique place in history.
"These are not war stories; to me it's the story of the human spirit," she said, "We're talking about matters of the heart
here."
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�Sources
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Go for Broke: 442nd Regimental Combat Team
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Barnett, Tracy L.
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<i>Santa Cruz County Sentinel</i>, April 27, 1999 (p. 1)
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Una Storia Segreta
By Lawrence DiStasi, Adele Negro and Rose Scherini
UNA STORIA SEGRETA (the words in Italian mean both a secret story and a secret history), was developed by the
American Italian Historical Association's Western Regional Chapter. It is dedicated to those who endured the confusions
and losses of the wartime largely in silence. By giving them voice now, we hope that others will be encouraged to fill out
this story—one we believe is not only worth telling, but crucial to understanding what has shaped us all.
Preface
"Why Not Do An Exhibit?" In March of 1993, at a conference sponsored by the American Italian Historical Association's
Western Regional Chapter, Una Storia Segreta had its inception. During that half day, a panel of speakers for the first
time bore public witness to the ways in which the wartime restrictions had marked their lives. No one could hear what
had happened to Italian Americans in those dark days without realizing that far more remained to be told. The question
was, how? At the close of the conference, Maria Gloria, one of the participants and a longtime columnist for L'Italo
Americano, passed on a thought: "Why not do an exhibit?" Had any of us suspected what this would entail, or where it
might lead, Una Storia Segreta might have been stillborn. As it was, innocence prevailed, and we set out to try.
Initial attempts to raise funds met with little success. The California Council for the Humanities considered the project's
appeal "limited" and its premises questionable. Many in the community remained distant, cautious. Yet with the
encouragement of a handful of supporters, the dedication of several members, and the help of a few individual
donations, the exhibit opened at the Museo Italo Americano in San Francisco on February 24, 1994—the anniversary of
the fateful day in 1942 when thousands of Italian Americans in California had to evacuate homes and lives suddenly off
limits to them. The press responded to the exhibit in an unprecedented way: cover stories appeared in the San Francisco
Examiner and in several Gannett newspapers, and a report on CNN was broadcast worldwide. Crowds at the Museo
were among the largest ever recorded there, culminating on March 27 with an Open Forum that played to a standingroom-only crowd.
Due to prior commitments by the Museo, the exhibit closed in San Francisco on March 28, but its second life was about
to begin. The Italian Cultural Society of Sacramento managed to secure the Rotunda of the State Capitol in Sacramento
as the first traveling site. Thousands saw it there, the Governor signed a Proclamation attesting to its importance, and
the Legislature passed a Resolution to the same effect.
Since then, Una Storia Segreta has grown in a way no one could have predicted. Donations to allow it to travel have
come from each sponsoring organization on its 1993 tour: Sacramento, Santa Rosa, Pittsburg, San Jose, Monterey and
Oakland. In Monterey, it received its most significant improvement to date: The Italian Heritage Society of Monterey Bay
donated funds so that each of the 18 foamcore panels (which were never designed to take the rigors of travel) could be
trimmed and framed in black metal, and a wooden crate built for shipping. This has readied the exhibit to open in Los
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�Angeles in 1995 and then to proceed to the East Coast for appearances in New York and other major cities eager to host
it.
Most importantly, the secret history whose outlines Una Storia Segreta helped uncover has continued to flesh itself out.
This story has remained hidden for 50 years because of the silence—first imposed by the government, then adopted as
protective cover by those affected—that has always surrounded it. Not only has the story been suppressed from
historical accounts, but the Italian American community itself has remained largely unaware of its existence. With the
exhibit, memories have been jogged, eyes have been opened, voices have been found. New stories—always specific to
each place, always imbuing the exhibit with the particular flavor of local experience—have emerged in a steady, and
steadily expanding flow.
We have learned details of the hardship borne by those who were targeted: in Pittsburg, evacuated families were so
hard pressed to find housing that Bettina Troia, now 102 years old, had to live in a chicken coop; those named 'alien'
were so suspect that Nancy Billeci's father, trying to visit her mother giving birth in the County Hospital, was taken in
handcuffs to visit his newborn child; those who tried to keep their jobs were given humiliating choices, such as that
offered to Angela Ardent's father-in-law at Mare Island Shipyards: "just drop the 'e' from Ardente," he was told; thus did
the Italian 'Ardente' become the Americanized 'Ardent' ever after.
In Monterey, we heard similar stories. Joe Sollecito told of Rosina Trovato, who learned one day that both her son and
her nephew had gone down with the "Arizona" at Pearl Harbor, and the next day that she had to leave her home. Vitina
Spadaro remembered how her evacuated family, relieved to have found a rental at last, was thrown into new despair
when the landlord learned they were Italian, and chased them away. John Mercurio related how naval officers appeared
at his door two days after Pearl Harbor, ordered him and his father to sail their commandeered boat to San Francisco,
and then ordered them to make their way home however they could. Other boat owners told the same story: U.S.
citizens all, all were told flatly that their boats were confiscated for the duration, and were left to make do—first with
rented boats, then with their own boats returned in unusable condition.
As such tales accumulated, we began to see the underlying significance of these events. Though 600,000 Italian
Americans were branded 'enemy aliens' because they lacked citizenship, it was not just they who were scarred. Lelio
Sbrazza, an American citizen, was living in Berkeley at the time; because of his name, his hunting rifles were confiscated
and never returned. Frank Brogno lived in Gary, Indiana during the war: his father, an American citizen, was visited by
local firemen, who seized the Brogno's prized Philco radio—and the 'contraband' of others in Gary whose Italian names
made them suspect.
Most poignant of all may be the plight of the women. Nino Aiello first told us about the Cable Act of 1916. According to
its terms, his mother, American-born, lost her citizenship when she married an Italian man. Though she managed to get
naturalized before the war, others were not so lucky: Elaine Null, a postal employee, had to fingerprint her own mother
as an alien—and only at the Pittsburg Open Forum found out why. Having married an Italian immigrant, her American
mother thereby lost her citizenship, and had to register as an 'enemy alien.' Hope Cardinalli of Monterey found herself in
the same boat: an American-born citizen married to an Italian, she was ordered to evacuate from Monterey as an enemy
alien. She refused, hired a lawyer, and was able to stay, but the insult remained.
The sum total of this becomes plain: the prejudice that, in America, had long attached to Italian-ness concentrated its
venom during the war. Many immigrants felt it as never before; their children felt it too. Their language had become the
'enemy's language,' their heritage one that was not only alien, but inimical to the American way. It seemed best to
abandon both, and thousands did just that. The results are with us still.
Now, fifty years later, we who put together Una Storia Segreta are encouraged by the responses we have received, both
locally and nationally. Apprehensive at first that people might be disturbed by what we had assembled, we have come to
realize that the opposite is the case. Though some may quarrel with our perspective, and still others prefer that the past
remain undisturbed, most Italian Americans who see the exhibit are released by it, uplifted. It is as if now, with the
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�larger story in place at last, and with the knowledge that others have spoken out, they too have the right to be heard,
for their experiences have been publicly validated. Even thus late, even absent the voices of those who suffered most, is
this so.
Our hope is that the process will continue. Our intention is that it will, that what has begun here will complete itself, and
that these long-buried events will take their rightful place in the true history of the homefront.
[Signed:]
Lawrence DiStasi
Berkeley, CA
Introduction
Italian immigration to the West Coast, which began as early as the Gold Rush, reached full force around the turn of the
century. By the 1930s the Italian population was at its peak: Italian Americans comprised the largest ethnic group not
only in San Francisco, but in the entire United States. The thirties were not easy for these immigrants, either politically
or economically. The Depression caused financial hardship for most. In addition, Italy under Mussolini was split between
those who favored Il Duce's totalitarian policies, and those who opposed them. Fascists battled anti-fascists both underand above-ground. The battle crossed the ocean with the many anti-fascists who fled to exile in America.
Italian communities like those in North Beach engaged in these disputes, not least in their newspapers. For the most
part, however, the immigrant generation supported Mussolini. He seemed to have gained the world's respect for Italy by
turning the old country into a disciplined modern nation. Much of the world press, including the major organs in the
United States, portrayed him as a hero—the first modern leader to lift his nation out of post–World War I chaos and
Depression.
In 1935, with his invasion of Ethiopia, the portrait began to change. The League of Nations imposed economic sanctions
on Italy. Many Italian Americans, following the lead of their Italian language press, saw this as a betrayal and continued
to support the country where so many had relatives in the service. Some donated to the Italian Red Cross, while
thousands of others sent gold wedding rings and copper postcards to support the Italian war effort. When Italy allied
with Germany and joined in the attack on France in 1940, however, the immigrants' worst fears were realized. Their
American sons might soon have to make war on their Italian relatives.
With the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor in 1941 and the U.S. declaration of war on all three Axis powers, Italian
Americans and the formerly pro-fascist newspapers hastened to affirm their loyalty to their adopted country. It made
little difference. The measures to come made many immigrants feel that they were being blamed for where they had
been born.
Una Storia Segreta documents some of what happened in the days following Pearl Harbor: the internment of
"dangerous" aliens beginning on the night of December 7; the re-registration of all enemy aliens and restrictions on their
possessions and movements; the evacuation of thousands of aliens from "prohibited zones" on the West Coast; and the
enforcement, again on the West Coast, of a stringent 8PM to 6AM curfew. Failure to comply with any element could,
and often did, lead to arrest and detention.
Subsequent months (February through June 1942) were a time of fear and confusion. Rumors and newspaper articles
reported that what all Californians were witnessing—the mass internment of Japanese Americans, both citizens and
aliens alike—was being considered in some form for Italian and German Americans as well. Executive Order 9066 had
made it possible to remove anyone, and General John DeWitt, the head of the Western Defense Command, seemed
eager to use it. No one knew what might happen, or when.
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�By June, political and economic considerations caused all such plans to be abandoned. In October 1942, Italians were
formally removed from the enemy alien classification, and allowed to return to prohibited zones. The ordeal was not
complete, however. Ironically, this was the very time that a few naturalized citizens whom the Tenney Committee found
"dangerous" received exclusion orders: they were ordered to move from Military Zones 1 and 2, which covered the
majority of California. Thus, even though most Italian aliens were no longer in the 'enemy alien' category, those interned
in December 1941 and the newly excluded citizens remained in that category until the Fall of 1943, when Italy's fascist
government surrendered.
Despite the years of research that went into it, Una Storia Segreta makes no claim to be complete: some government
documents are still classified, and requests for data under the Freedom of Information Act can wait years for a response.
Still, we believe that what is known must be told now, primarily so that similar episodes might be prevented in the
future. In addition, no one who has spoken to those affected can fail to be moved by the impact these measures had on
them, their families, and their communities. Neither can one avoid the questions that arise. To what degree, for
example, did the targeting of those whose first language was Italian hasten the disuse of the Italian language? Aside
from much anecdotal evidence, no studies exist to provide figures. We do know, however, that many immigrants, clubs,
and stores made a point of not using Italian in public, while others stopped teaching the language to their children. The
U.S. Government surely encouraged this trend by its poster proclaiming "DON'T SPEAK THE ENEMY'S LANGUAGE. SPEAK
AMERICAN!"
Much more might and surely will be said about these and other long-lasting effects. For now we think it appropriate to
give the last words to Frances Cardinalli of Pittsburg, whose aging parents had to evacuate their home in Pittsburg and
move to Centerville, near Fremont. Referring to a photo of her mother in her Sunday best, we asked if that was how her
mother looked on the day she had to leave.
"Oh God, no. It looked like a funeral. We were all dead. We couldn't part. We never were separated before."
If immigration itself constitutes a little death, then the wartime for many Italian immigrants, and their communities, may
come to be seen as yet another.
Prelude to War
Benito Mussolini came to power in 1922 with the now-famous March of his blackshirts on Rome. Although the American
left opposed him from the beginning, he was widely touted in the popular press as a "black-shirted Garibaldi." The
fascisti were compared to the Old West's vigilantes. Even Nation magazine ran an article during the 1932 Presidential
campaign entitled, "Wanted: A Mussolini."
This adulation of the "new Columbus" extended through the early thirties. Delegation after delegation went for an
audience with the Duce, coming away impressed with his energy, candor, and apparent ability to reshape the Italian
character (which Americans were sure needed reshaping). President Roosevelt sent several new cabinet members to
learn from Mussolini's social programs, including government support for the arts and social security. To Italian
Americans, this added fuel to their already inflamed hopes: Mussolini was helping them gain the respect of America and
Americans they had always lacked.
When Italy invaded Ethiopia in 1935, respect changed to widespread revulsion. The expansion of fascism's dark side by
Nazi Germany accelerated this process, especially when Mussolini allied himself with Hitler in 1936. When Italy joined
Germany's invasion of France in June of 1940, President Roosevelt's condemnation of the Duce as a "jackal" for having
struck a "dagger" into "the back of his neighbor" evoked few disclaimers.
The days from June 10, 1940 to December 7, 1941 were filled with anxiety for Italian Americans. Though they conveyed
their dismay over FDR's choice of words, they sensed that the die had been cast. America would sooner or later side
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�with Britain and France to defend what remained of Europe against fascist aggression. Mussolini's Italy had become in
name, if not yet in fact, America's enemy. Italians and Italian Americans could soon be at war.
It took only a year. The Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7 destroyed the remaining American reservations
about entering the battle. When the President a few days later declared war on Italy, Italian aliens (those immigrants
who, for whatever reason, had failed to complete the naturalization process) automatically became "enemy" aliens.
They were subject to whatever measures the government deemed necessary.
Internment
Beginning on the night of December 7, 1941, Japanese, German and Italian aliens were arrested by the FBI. How could
this happen? The U.S. had not declared war by that date.
The story actually begins in September 1939, when Britain and France declared war against the Axis nations of Germany
and Italy (later to include Japan). President Roosevelt at that time asked FBI Director Hoover to compile a list of persons
to be arrested in case of national emergency. Names placed on this Custodial Detention List eventually included proCommunists, anti-fascists, pro-fascists, pro-Nazis, and even some Jewish refugees.
The authority for these arrests came from Title 50 of the U.S. Code, based on the 1798 Alien & Sedition Acts, which gives
the government power to detain aliens in times of emergency.
Under this authority, hundreds of Italians were arrested in the months immediately after Pearl Harbor. About 250
individuals were interned for up to two years in military camps in Montana, Oklahoma, Tennessee and Texas. By June of
1942, the total reached 1,521 Italian aliens arrested by the FBI, many for curfew violations alone. Though most of the
latter were released after short periods of detention, the effects on them and others in the community are not hard to
imagine.
The arrest and internment procedure in San Francisco followed this pattern: FBI officers arrived at night, searched the
home, and took the individual to an Immigration Service detention facility at Silver and Yale Avenues. The family was not
informed why the arrest was made or what would happen.
Arrestees were sometimes moved to another detention facility at Sharp Park (now in the city of Pacifica) where quonset
huts had been hurriedly set up on a golf course. Some were held there for as long as one year. Later, Italian prisoners of
war were also held at Sharp Park.
Most of the arrestees were then shipped by train to Fort Missoula, Montana, where over 1,000 Italian nationals had
been interned since May, 1941. These Italians were merchant marines whose ships had been impounded at Atlantic
ports after the European war began in 1939.
In Montana, the interned aliens were given pro
forma hearings before boards consisting of military
officers and lay citizens. They were not informed of
the charges against them, nor were they
represented by legal counsel. The information
before the boards consisted entirely of FBI reports.
Researchers have often noted, on examining FBI
files, the many errors, the misinterpretation of
innocent acts, and the lack of rumor verification—
all of which are found in these aliens' files.
Most of the San Francisco internees were members Italian American internees watching a soccer game at Missoula.
of the Ex-Combattenti, the Federation of Italian
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�War Veterans in America. Veterans of World War I (when Italy and America were allies), they were apparently singled
out because the group was on the FBI list of "dangerous" organizations. During the thirties, the veterans' main project
had been collecting and distributing funds for war widows and orphans in Italy. By 1941 the State Department had
decided that the receiving agencies in Italy were too "closely identified" with the Italian Government; continued
disbursal of monies to the Associazione Nazionale Famiglie dei Caduti in Guerra (National Association for Families of War
Dead) and various Community Welfare Funds was a violation of the 1939 U.S. Neutrality Act. The FBI then began
surveillance of individual members. FBI files do not, however, reveal any illegal or "subversive" activities. In fact, some
ex-combattenti who were openly anti-fascist or, at most, apolitical, were interned.
Italy's surrender on September 8, 1943 brought about the release of most of the Italian American internees by year's
end. Some had been paroled months earlier after "exoneration" by a second hearing board appealed for by their
families. Nonetheless, most of the men had spent two years as prisoners, moving from camp to camp every three to four
months. Neither they nor their families would ever forget it.
Restrictions
In January of 1942, all enemy aliens were required to register at local post offices around the country. Although all
resident aliens had already registered in 1940 under the Smith Act, now as 'enemy' aliens they would be required to be
fingerprinted, photographed, and carry their photo-bearing "enemy alien registration cards" at all times. To those
affected this was alarming; in retrospect, it recalls the authoritarian methods of the very fascists it was meant to
combat.
Then came a series of Army proclamations, some directed at all enemy aliens, some only for those on the West Coast:
1. Travel: no travel beyond a five-mile radius of home; longer trips require application for travel permit.
2. Contraband: all firearms, shortwave radios, cameras, and "signaling devices" (including flashlights) prohibited;
all to be turned in or confiscated. Many were never returned.
3. Curfew: enemy aliens on the West Coast confined to homes between 8:00 PM and 6:00 AM.
The impact of these restrictions was widespread and apparently unanticipated by the government. In places like
Monterey, Santa Cruz, Pittsburg and San Francisco—where the Italians, many of them long-term residents without final
citizenship papers, constituted a majority of the fishermen, scavengers, restaurant workers and janitors—the restrictions
created serious employment and food-supply problems.
The impact on personal lives can only be suggested. Because of the travel restrictions, mothers could not visit their
children in hospitals if they were more than five miles away. Families could not attend a relative's funeral. No alien could
make a trip to visit distant friends or relatives, nor even to visit their own sons in uniform at military installations.
For the fishermen, the regulations seemed arbitrary at best, foolish or cruel at worst. In Pittsburg, the inland fishermen
were classed as an exempt industry and so were allowed to fish. However, Monterey and San Francisco fishermen (and
all those who fished the Pacific Ocean) were restricted: the aliens could not go out on their boats, and scores of citizens
who owned large purse seiners had them confiscated by the Coast Guard for patrol duty. Giuseppe Spadaro's
"Marettimo" was returned to him in such poor condition that he could not use it; before he could have it repaired, a
storm destroyed it altogether.
In the West, the curfew caused fear, suspicion and worse. Those picked up for violations were left to wonder if a
neighbor had informed on them. Animosities festered and lingered. The legacy of all this is hard to calculate, but one
thing seems evident: arresting a truck farmer unable to complete his delivery run by 8PM probably did little to help
security but much to destroy the trust necessary for community life. And whether such a person could ever trust their
government is something else again.
6
�Evacuation
M For enemy aliens, February was the "cruelest month." Fears of a Japanese invasion of the West Coast ran wild. After a
Japanese submarine apparently landed some torpedoes in Santa Barbara, the pressure to move the Japanese population
soared. Italians and Germans, feeling the hysteria and reading news reports about the planned removal of all aliens to
inland camps, feared the worst.
They were not far off. The order to evacuate "prohibited" zones along the California coast no later than February 24 was
directed at all enemy aliens. Italian aliens, along with their Japanese and German counterparts, began the wrenching
task of finding a place to live and leaving those they loved.
The total numbers who had to leave their homes is still unknown, but in places like Monterey, Pittsburg, and Santa Cruz,
thousands had to move. In some cases, the new house might be only a block away; in others, it might require a trip of
ten, fifteen, or fifty miles. Without cars or freeways, such gaps between families seemed unbridgeable. For some it was
unbearable. Among the several suicides reported in the newspapers was that of 65-year-old Martini Battistessa of
Richmond, who threw himself in front of a train on February 21, 1942.
Even aliens with sons or grandsons in the Armed Forces were not exempt from the move. One
San Francisco resident who had to leave his home near Fisherman's Wharf was the father of a
serviceman killed at Pearl Harbor. In Santa Cruz, Steve Ghio came home on leave from the Navy
to find the houses in his neighborhood boarded up. He could not find his parents or relatives until
he learned of their forced move and obtained a new address from the local police.
The immediate personal and economic effects of this evacuation were vivid enough. California's
fishing fleet was decimated. Ninety-seven-year-old Placido Abono was moved from his Pittsburg
home to Oakley, ten miles away, on a stretcher.
By July, when the invasion scare had subsided and the entire Japanese–American population had
been interned, the Army rescinded its order of evacuation. But many Italian aliens—some of
whom could not read Italian, let alone English—remained in the dark about this change too: the
notices that they could go home were simply posted in local post offices.
Additional ironies abound. Italian Americans were not only the largest ethnic group in the nation;
they were also the largest group in the Armed Forces. Nevertheless, parents and grandparents
were compelled to move from the homes where they had raised those now serving their country.
Catherine Buccellato
with her son, Nick. Like
many others, Nick later
came home on leave to
find his house empty.
While he had been
serving his country, his
mother had to evacuate
her Pittsburg, CA home.
Another is that at a time when all human and food resources were needed for the war effort, many men and women
had to give up their jobs because they were located in prohibited zones. Thus, when large numbers of coastal fishermen
could no longer fish, the government poster, "Fish is Fighting Food ...We need more," encouraged Americans to increase
consumption of that which its own policies had caused to be scarce.
Such ironies may evoke a smile now. At the time, the smile was likely to be tinged with disbelief: did the left hand know
what the right was doing?
Exclusion
The Western Defense Commander, Lt. Gen. John L. DeWitt, wanted to remove not only aliens, but also naturalized
citizens from the "sensitive" military zones along the coast. He succeeded in removing even American-born Japanese–
Americans. However, after much debate and no little confusion for those concerned, Washington, particularly the
Attorney General and the President, decided against removing Italians and Germans. The logistics, not to mention the
political and economic repercussions, were too formidable. Nonetheless, DeWitt won a small victory when he was
allowed to initiate an Individual Exclusion Program for naturalized citizens.
7
�In the Fall of 1942—after the Italians had been removed from the enemy alien classification—254 Italian and German
naturalized citizens received exclusion orders. These orders gave them ten days to move out of the designated zones.
Most were German immigrants and West Coast residents, but some lived on the eastern and southern coasts of the
United States.
In San Francisco, about 20 Italian–Americans, both men and women, were excluded. They were community leaders,
Italian-language school instructors, staff of the pro-fascist Italian-language newspaper L'Italia, and members of the
Italian War Veterans. Most were long-time residents of the city and had been naturalized citizens for many years.
What led to the selection of these specific individuals for exclusion? The community leaders and L'Italia staff had been
named as pro-fascists by witnesses before the State Legislature's UnAmerican Activities Committee at hearings held in
San Francisco in May of 1942. The hearings were held in the Borgia Room of the St. Francis Hotel, the irony of which
none of the senators seemed to recognize. The Tenney Committee—named after its chair, state Senator Jack Tenney—
concluded, after four days of testimony, that three community leaders, Sylvester Andriano, Ettore Patrizi and Renzo
Turco, were "the leaders of the Fascist movement in California." They further concluded that Patrizi's newspaper L'Italia,
and the Italian-language school, DopoScuola, were centers of Fascist propaganda. Some of these names had previously
been brought to the attention of the FBI, but it had made no arrests of any naturalized citizens.
In September the Army acted. It held individual hearings similar to those for the internees—no charges were made, no
legal counsel allowed. Then it served exclusion orders, commanding each individual to move out of Military Zones 1 and
2, which covered about two-thirds of California. Ettore Patrizi, 77 years old, a U.S. resident and naturalized citizen since
1899, received his exclusion order while hospitalized. Andriano and Turco, both attorneys, had to vacate their homes
and law offices, and were unable to practice law where they relocated. Nino Guttadauro, president of the War Veterans
and business manager of the Crab Fishermen's Protective Association, left San Francisco to find work and housing for his
family, which he eventually found in Reno, the nearest city with available jobs.
These moves took place in October 1942, just before the Government announced that Italians were no longer "enemy
aliens." That did not change the status of the "dangerous" aliens who had been interned earlier, nor of these naturalized
citizens who had now been excluded.
The excludees were allowed to return to their homes at the end of 1943, following Italy's surrender in September. Most
had spent about 15 months in exile. They had been reporting regularly to the FBI in cities like Reno where they had
relocated. Why the exclusion was necessary, and why the FBI could not have kept them under surveillance in their own
homes, has never been explained. After all, in October 1942, the invasion fears had greatly lessened...and opportunities
for sabotage were just as great in Reno as in San Francisco.
The same questions arise regarding those aliens evacuated from the coast. More than a few—Angelina Bruno of
Pittsburg was one—had moved to houses overlooking Army bases, where sabotage could have been a real possibility. It
seemed not to matter. Neither did the fact that a large proportion of the Pittsburg evacuees were women and a few
men too old to fish. Were such people a threat? Were such lives disrupted to any good purpose?
Aftermath
M We call this exhibit Una Storia Segreta for two reasons: one, the country, including the government, has never fully
acknowledged these events; two, many of the families involved have never wanted to talk about it. Many were
humiliated by the treatment of spouses or relatives, and are still angry about it.
More than fifty years later, we are able to prepare this exhibit because of the persistence of a few researchers in probing
government archives, and the forthright responses of the families who do want their stories told.
Aside from these sources, surprisingly little has been written. One of the excludees, Remo Bosia, published a book in
1971 about his experiences. In 1983 the report of the U.S. Commission on Wartime Relocation and Internment included
8
�a chapter on German Americans, mentioning Italians only to say that the Justice Department had interned 264 of them.
More of the story was filled out with the publication in 1985 of John Christgau's book "Enemies": World War II Alien
Internment, about German Americans interned in North Dakota, and again in 1990 with Stephen Fox's The Unknown
Internment: An Oral History of the Relocation of ltalian Americans during World War II. Yet half a century later, the story
remains incomplete. Some of the records remain classified, FBI files are censored, and requests for information can wait
years for a response.
Recent attempts to obtain some redress for the wartime treatment do show signs of movement. At the 1992 California
convention of the Sons of Italy, their Social Justice Commission passed a resolution requesting "full public disclosure of
the injustices suffered by Italo-Americans during World War II, and...that apology be made not only to Americans of
Italian ancestry, but to the nation as a whole." One man, S.H. Bianchini of Monterey, was responsible for bringing this
matter to the attention of the Sons of Italy.
Unfortunately, the response to this resolution from the U.S. Department of Justice addressed only the fact that "a
relatively small number of ethnic Germans and Italians received individual exclusion orders in contrast to the mass
detention of Japanese Americans." Could it be that the current Department of Justice does not even know about the
Army-initiated internments and evacuations? And, even if they know, do they not think it important to acknowledge the
injustice done to thousands of Italians who had to evacuate their homes? In Canada, where Italian aliens were also
interned, the government issued a public apology in 1990.
A number of initiatives recently begun by other groups in this country also suggest that the time for an Italian American
petition is at hand. Interned German Americans have taken their case to the courts. Also preparing a court case are the
Japanese Peruvians who, though unjustly and illegally sent to the U.S. to be interned, were not included in the 1988 Civil
Liberties Act granting apologies and reparations to the interned Japanese Americans.
That the authorities of the time suspected an injustice is clear. In the FBI files of some Italian internees, researchers have
found copies of a July 1943 memo from Attorney General Francis Biddle, declaring his opinion that the Custodial
Detention List was "invalid;" that the evidence used to declare an alien "dangerous" was inadequate because it lacked
evidence of illegal actions; and that the episode was "a mistake that should be rectified for the future."
Nevertheless, whenever conflict between the U.S. and another country erupts, the talk of internment of the nationals
involved flares once again. During the Cold War, it was the Russians; then it was the Cubans; and as recently as the 1990
Gulf War, Iraqi Americans were threatened with internment.
It is time America realized what is fundamental to its creed: to condemn one of us on the basis of our origins, national or
otherwise, is to condemn us all.
Additional Information
Una Storia Segreta: the secret history of Italian American evacuation and internment during World War II, edited
and with an introduction by Lawrence DiStasi; foreword by Sandra M. Gilbert.
9
�Sources
Text and Photographs copyright 1994 American Italian Historical Association, Western Regional Chaper. Used
by Permission.
This article is from the booklet that accompanied the exhibition Una Storia Segreta.—ed.
The content of this article is the responsibility of the individual author. It is the Library's intent to provide accurate local history
information. However, it is not possible for the Library to completely verify the accuracy of individual articles obtained from a
variety of sources. If you believe that factual statements in a local history article are incorrect and can provide documentation,
please contact the Webmaster.
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�
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Una Storia Segreta
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DiStasi, Lawrence
Negro, Adele
Scherini, Rose
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<i>Una Storia Segreta: the Secret History of Italian American Evacuation and Internment during World War II</i>, edited and with an introduction by Lawrence DiStasi; foreword by Sandra M. Gilbert.
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Text and Photographs copyright 1994 American Italian Historical Association, Western Regional Chaper. Used by Permission.
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Evacuation (Word War II)
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https://history.santacruzpl.org/omeka/files/original/12412d1e04b3a8e8a0407dd069ffd51b.pdf
9d7fd20c507c0578fea9680351171139
PDF Text
Text
Male Notte:
The Untold Story of Italian Relocation During World War II
By Geoffrey Dunn
On a quiet evening in February of 1942, fifty years ago this coming month, Celestina Batistina Loero, my great
grandmother, was greeted at the doorstep of her clapboard home on Laguna Street by two agents of the Department of
Justice. A native of northern Italy and 78 years of age at the time, she spoke no English, while the federal agents spoke
no Italian, much less the regional Genoese dialect that was the common tongue of the Santa Cruz–Italian fishing colony.
A granddaughter who lived next door was summoned to serve as a translator.
As an "enemy alien" living in what had recently been declared "a restricted area" by the Western Defense Command of
the United States Army, my great grandmother was told that she was in violation of recently passed federal law. The
agents informed her that she had 48 hours to move herself and her belongings inland of Highway 1 (Mission Street) or
that she would be subject to immediate arrest.
Barely weighing 100 pounds, the mother of two sons and two grandsons currently serving in the U.S. Navy, my great
grandmother could hardly have been a threat to the U.S. war effort against the Axis powers. She had lived on the same
plot of land for nearly a half-century and rarely ventured more than a few blocks away. But move she did, to a room on
High Street, where she was to live for the remainder of the year.
My great grandmother was in her nineties when I was a small child, but I have vivid memories of her strong, busy hands,
always seeming to be at work in her vegetable garden or in her kitchen. She had an ever-present smile, she enjoyed her
afternoon beer and red wine, and she loved to hold me and my young cousins in her lap and play games with our hands.
Occasionally she would break out into tears, and when she did, she would mumble something about "la male notte" (the
bad night), about which we children knew nothing—and would know nothing for years and years to come.
It was nearly a quarter century later, long after she had died, that I stumbled across news of my great grandmother's
forced relocation while researching some World War II history in the pages of the Santa Cruz Sentinel. For the first time,
I understood the meaning of "la male notte," the sad night she had been forced to move from the safety and comfort of
her home. I also discovered that she had not been alone. Scores of other Santa Cruz–Italians were also relocated in the
first months of the war, as were thousands of other Italian immigrants along the West Coast. Many others were arrested
on dubious charges and sent to prison or to inland internment centers run by the Immigration Service.
It has long been an historical misconception that Executive Order 9066, issued by President Franklin Delano Roosevelt
on February 19 of 1942, applied only to Japanese (and Japanese–Americans) living in the western states. Such was not
the case—at least not at first.
1
�As Humboldt State University historian Stephen Fox has pointed out in his fascinating book, The Unknown Internment:
An Oral History of the Relocation of Italian Americans During World War II, in the early months of the war, Lieutenant
General John L. De Witt, commanding general of the Fourth Army and Western Defense Command in San Francisco,
interpreted the order to include all so-called "enemy aliens"—Italians and Germans, along with the Japanese. Indeed,
DeWitt, paranoid about so-called "fifth column" activities (spying by enemy nationals) pushed for the forced relocation
of all "enemy aliens." It was only in the ensuing months, for reasons that are far more complex than simple racism, that
the treatment of the Japanese would become more heinous than their Italian and German counterparts. Nevertheless,
of the 25,655 "enemy aliens" arrested during the war, 14,426 (or 55 percent) were Italians and Germans.
In recent years, the Japanese relocation during World War II has become so widely publicized in the media that it has
overshadowed the lesser, albeit terrible, plight of Italian and German immigrants during the War—so much so that the
latter has been forgotten by history and, in many cases, denied. A recent article on the Japanese internment in the San
Francisco Examiner declared, "The United States was also at war with Hitler and Mussolini, but no Italians or Germans
were sent to concentration camps." Not true.
The Japanese bombs that destroyed Pearl Harbor and President Franklin Roosevelt's subsequent declaration of war in
December of 1941 rocked communities along the west coast out of their political slumber. Until then, the gloomy events
in Europe and Asia had appeared vague and distant, particularly to those engaged in agricultural and commercial fishing
activities throughout the largely rural west. Santa Cruz was no exception.
The events of December 7, 1941, changed all that. Almost immediately, local residents of Japanese descent, previously
ambivalent about the Asian-Pacific conflict, declared their allegiance to the U.S. war effort. At a dinner given at the St.
George Hotel on December 8 by the Japanese Association of Santa Cruz, association president Tommy Kadotani told
local officials in attendance, "We are yours to command in this emergency."
Across the country in Washington that same evening, President Roosevelt ordered the arrest of all Italian, Japanese and
German aliens who the FBI and other federal agencies deemed "dangerous to American security." Within 72 hours,
3,846 aliens were arrested—most of them, Italian. Less than two weeks later, General DeWitt was recommending that
all enemy aliens 14 years of age and older be removed to the interior. He was supported by the FBI's resident
xenophobe, J. Edgar Hoover.
For a short time, the Justice Department resisted the pressures mounting from De Witt, Hoover and the War
Department, and proposed a more moderate alien policy. By mid-January, however, with the war effort deteriorating in
the Pacific, the moderate voices at Justice caved in and the War Department announced that it was constructing
internment camps for "all classes of enemy aliens." In late January, DeWitt submitted an extensive lists of "restricted
zones" which were prohibited to all enemy aliens—German, Italian and Japanese alike.
With its large populations of farmers and fishermen of Japanese and Italian descent, the Monterey Bay area was of
particular concern to DeWitt and the War Department. By January 25 of 1942, all areas west (or oceanside) of Highway 1
in Santa Cruz and Monterey counties were declared "restricted" to all "enemy aliens" (with curfew, travel and residence
restrictions enforced). Local German, Italian and Japanese immigrants who had not yet declared American citizenship
were forced to move out of the "restricted" areas by February 24, after which time they would also be subjected to a 9
p.m. curfew and permitted to travel only between their homes and place of employment. Signs were placed throughout
the county boldly announcing:
"ENEMY ALIENS PROHIBITED AREA NO. 28. The United States Government requires all aliens of German, Italian or
Japanese nationality to vacate this area."
It was estimated that 1,500 local residents would be affected by the decree.
2
�The Santa Cruz Sentinel quickly jumped on the relocation bandwagon. In an editorial dated February 3, the local daily
reasoned: "The United States can take no chances by trying to pick for exclusion only those aliens who are known
enemies. All aliens originating from countries with which we are at war [should] be banned from the defined areas."
For Italian fishermen working at the Santa Cruz Municipal Wharf, restrictions on their activities were enforced
immediately after the Pearl Harbor bombing. The day following FDR's declaration of war, a dozen Italian nationals were
no longer allowed to take their boats out to sea. The restricted fishermen included Stefano Ghio, Giovanni Olivieri,
Marco Carniglia, Batista and Frank Bregante, Serafino Canepa, Niccolo Bassano, Giacomo Stagnaro, Agostino Oliveri,
Fortunado Zolezzi, Johnnie Stellato, and Johnnie Cecchini. Their plight became well publicized. In a front-page article
with banner headlines, the Santa Cruz Sentinel declared: "Fishermen With 23 Sons in Army and Navy Are Bound to
Wharf While Boats Lie Idle and Sea Food Is Needed."
The article, more than likely written by the Sentinel's legendary waterfront reporter Ernest Otto, was sympathetic
towards the fishermen and also noted the confusion and inequities of the government's relocation efforts:
"With its problem of separating fifth columnists from peaceful and worthy residents of foreign birth, the Department of
Justice has had no time to work out formulae which will safeguard the nation and at the same time allow such men as
Santa Cruz's fishermen to earn a living for their families and add to the country's food supply."
Local Italian activists Mary Carniglia and Malio Stagnaro, along with Santa Cruz judge James J. Scoppetone of the
Marconi Civic Service club, wrote letters to government officials on behalf of the restricted fishermen, many of whom
were their relatives and all of whom lived either in the Italian neighborhoods of lower Bay Street or in the flats east of
Neary Lagoon. Monterey Bay area congressmember John Anderson responded to these early pleas with typical political
aplomb: "I am doing everything I can to bring the [fishermen's] trustworthiness to the attention of proper authorities,
and I earnestly hope that a policy will be adopted which will permit your people to return to their normal way of living."
One of the local fishermen prevented from going to sea was Stefano Ghio, father of veteran Santa Cruz fisherman Victor
Ghio.
"Here I was in the Navy," Ghio says. "I had another brother in the Navy and another brother in the Army, and they do
this to my father? It was a bunch of B.S., a lot of B.S. I talked to my superiors about it, but hell, there was nothing they
could do. They told me to do my duty and that was it. It's too bad, that's all. My dad and some of the rest lost some good
fishing seasons, I'll tell you that."
Victor's older brother, Stevie ("Ghighi") Ghio, recalls coming home from leave during the spring of 1942 and not being
able to find his parents, who had been forced to relocate inland.
"I came home to the Barranca (the Italian neighborhood)," he says, "and I couldn't find my folks or my aunts and uncles.
All the houses were boarded up shut. I couldn't find anybody. Finally, I went down to the police station and they told me
what had happened. I was still in my Navy uniform. They looked through some records and found out where they were.
So one of the officers drives me up to where my folks had been moved. They were all so happy to see me, and my
mother says, 'I was worried you wouldn't find us,' and she started to cry. It was pretty upsetting. They'd lived here 30, 40
years, and to have this happen to them—well, it just wasn't right, but there wasn't much we could say."
Italian artichoke and Brussels sprouts farmers on the north coast of the county were also hit hard by the early
restrictions. "The growers are definitely facing a labor shortage," declared Luis Poletti, head of the Davenport Producers
Association. "It hits pretty hard. I don't know how we're going to replace them in the fields, but we'll have to."
The relatively small German community in Santa Cruz also felt the impact of the restrictions and impending relocation.
As depicted by John Steinbeck in his novel East of Eden, anti-German sentiment was particularly virulent along the
Central Coast during World War I, and in Santa Cruz it was downright nasty. On February 13, the body of German
national George M. Heckel was found on a beach near Woodrow Avenue. Despondent over his impending relocation
3
�and not wanting to suffer through hostilities like those 20 years earlier, the 73-year-old native of Germany walked out
into the surf and committed suicide. At least four other similar suicides, by both Italians and Germans, in the San
Francisco Bay area took place in the early weeks of February.
The periodic announcements coming from the Justice and War departments, many of them contradictory, had the effect
of putting the local Japanese, Italian and German communities on edge. No one here knew for sure what exactly was
going on—and in reality, no one in Washington knew what was going on, either. Various departments and competing
bureaucracies established policy one day, only to have it overruled and contradicted by another the next. Looking back
on them from the vantage point of 50 years, the daily reporting of those activities reads something like a Kafakaesque
novel. Back then, they must have been a pure nightmare.
On February 1, for instance, a Sentinel headline declared: "No Zones Barred to Enemy Aliens In This County." A few day
later, another headline declared: "New Alien Rules Are Outlined," the accompanying article affirming that "no enemy
aliens may live, work or visit" the restricted areas in the county. The following day, headlines reported "No Exceptions
for Santa Cruz Aliens: Confusion [Here] After First Order." The article went on to read:
"Italian, Japanese and German aliens in Santa Cruz may have harbored a hope that some disposition would come to
exclude them from the evacuation order, had those hopes completely quashed Tuesday in a Justice Department
announcement that 'no exceptions' would be made.
"There will be no relaxation of regulations to permit the aged and infirm, or those Axis aliens living with citizen sons and
daughters, to remain in the area."
A few weeks later, the entire county was declared "prohibited" to Italian, Japanese and German nationals and vast areas
inland extending throughout the Central Valley were deemed "restricted." Headline after headline in between
emphasized the urgency of the "enemy alien" issue.
Local Italians did not take the restrictions lightly. Many violated them flagrantly, while others vowed to have them
overturned. In an interview with Elizabeth Calciano conducted for UCSC's Regional History Project, Malio Stagnaro, who
served as a chief boatswain in the Navy during the war, recalled a trip he took to San Francisco to confront General
DeWitt about the hardships his policies were creating. Stagnaro, a longtime spokesman for the Italian community on the
wharf, characterized DeWitt as a "damn fool,...a complete nut, in my opinion."
"I went up to DeWitt to try to talk to him," Stagnaro recalled, "and he wouldn't listen to any reason whatsoever, to
nothing. Everybody to him was an enemy that wasn't an American citizen. I said, 'General, these are the greatest people
in the world.' 'Well!' he says. 'Why didn't they become citizens?' I said, 'General, they never had the opportunity; never
had an opportunity to learn; they raised big families, and they stayed at home.'"
DeWitt was unmoved.
Another vocal opponent of the alien restrictions was Mary Carniglia, the matriarch of the local fishing colony, whose
husband, Marco, was prohibited from fishing and was facing relocation, while her eldest son, John, was serving in the
Navy.
"The kids are asking their parents, 'What are they going to do to you?' The smaller children can't understand," Carniglia
declared in a lengthy interview with the Sentinel. "The adult Italians have such faith in the government, they say it's all
paper talk. But it hurts. My people have lived here in the same houses for three generations, and I'm going into a fourth
generation. I'm a citizen, but my husband is not.
"My people are proud to be in America. Their coming here gave them a taste of paradise. They aren't disloyal. If the
government can show disloyalty, then they should be punished. I wouldn't fight for them if I thought they weren't loyal.
But I know they are."
4
�Carniglia battled to have the local fishermen allowed to return to their livelihoods. She also fought against
"racketeering" by local landlords who she felt were taking advantage of the relocation controversy. She charged that in
some cases landlords were hiking rents, while others were refusing to rent to families with children. She also charged
that deposits were being stolen. "If we're all helping toward the aim of victory," she queried local Realtors, "why should
these [landlords] throw the monkey wrench in at this time? Why crush these unfortunate people with further blows?"
Santa Cruz Realtor, Joseph Jacoby, defended his profession against Carniglia's charges. Local landlords, he declared,
were merely charging what the "market will bear." He also suggested that
"Italians were taking advantage of the situation...One Italian paid a $5 deposit, then came back to say he didn't want the
house—with renting days having passed—and received his money back. This happened in two instances. In still another,
the Italians made an appointment to view the house, then never showed up because the rent was too high."
Carniglia, however, had none of Jacoby's explanation. She called for an emergency rent-control measure to protect the
dislocated residents. "People should have more love and wisdom," she declared. "These narrow-minded people are
taking advantage of these unfortunates." A rent-control measure was never adopted, but the racketeering crisis
eventually passed.
For Japanese residents, both citizens and non-citizens alike, their crisis was just beginning. As the February 24 relocation
deadline neared, it was becoming more and more apparent that the Japanese were starting to be singled out by
government activities, both in Washington and on the West Coast. Beginning February 9, Sentinel headlines read: "FBI
Arrests 20 Japs in Monterey Bay Territory." Most of those arrests took place in Monterey and Salinas, but federal agents
also swept Watsonville, where Ben Torigoe, owner of a sporting goods store was picked up for being in possession of a
dozen shotguns, a camera, an alleged "illegal radio," and so-called "subversive literature" that had been published in
Japan. Three Buddhist priests were also arrested in the raids.
On February 21, two days following the signing of Executive Order 9066, hundreds of aliens—119 Japanese, 54 Italians
and 9 Germans—were arrested throughout California, though in Santa Cruz County, arrests were limited to two
Japanese residents, Tommy Kadotani and T. Kai, both active members of the Santa Cruz Japanese association. Kadotani,
a native of Santa Cruz who, ironically, had grown up on the fringes of the Italian fishing colony on Bay Street, was a
widely respected local florist and gardener. Both he and Kai were charged with raising monies that "eventually found
their way to the Japanese Imperial army," charges that were never substantiated and which Kadotani denied. (Years
later, when Kadotani and I were fishing on his boat Sake one afternoon, I gently tried to broach the topic of his arrest.
Kadotani politely, though sternly, informed me that there was nothing to talk about, save fishing.) Kadotani and Kai were
shipped to San Francisco for questioning by the FBI and didn't return to Santa Cruz until the end of the war.
That weekend, FBI agents arrested ten more Japanese residents in Watsonville, including grocer Keijuro Sugiyama, apple
driers Charles and Frank Huira, and farmer Saikichi Yamamoto. At the same time, 16 Italians were arrested in Salinas.
The following Monday, an event that helped codify anti-Japanese feelings took place in Goleta, near Santa Barbara,
where a Japanese submarine fired 25 shells at an oil refinery just off the coast. Damage was minimal, but the boldness of
the attack created a panic along the west coast. That shelling, combined with lingering animosity from the Pearl Harbor
bombing and longstanding anti-Asian prejudices dating back to the 19th Century, led to stepped up calls for the removal
of all Japanese from the western halves of California, Oregon and Washington. The local chapter of the Native Sons of
the Golden West, headed by president Tom Kelley, passed a resolution calling for the ouster of all residents of Japanese
descent, while in Washington, D.C., Congressmember Anderson demanded "immediate evacuation of all persons of
Japanese lineage."
Then California Attorney General Earl Warren, later to become both governor and Chief Justice of the U.S. Supreme
Court, was a vociferous proponent of Japanese relocation. "When we are dealing with the Caucasian race we have
5
�methods that will test the loyalty of them," Warren opined. "But when we deal with the Japanese, we are on an entirely
different field."
In addition to such overtly racist sentiments, there were also political factors preventing Italian (and German) relocation.
Mounting pressures from Democratic politicians in East Coast cities, particularly New York, Philadelphia and Boston—all
with large Italian populations—had a powerful effect in swaying the president and his staff against mass Italian
internment on the West Coast. There were no such Japanese strongholds in the east; in Hawaii, however, where there
were 140,000 Japanese nationals (constituting 37 percent of the population), the Japanese were neither relocated nor
interned. Even though such actions would have appeared even more congruent with strategic concerns, the political and
economic implications of such a move would have been overwhelming. The Japanese were only vulnerable on the
mainland.
Thus, by late March, the idea of evacuating Italian and German residents out of the state was losing support, while the
movement to relocate all Japanese residents gained momentum. In the ensuing five months, more than 100,000
Japanese—70 percent of them U.S. citizens—were forcibly removed to inland concentration camps, beginning one of
the greatest tragedies in American history. (At the same time, the all-Japanese 442nd Regimental Combat team, drafted
out of the internment camps and Hawaii, became the most decorated unit of World War II.)
As the spring of 1942 turned into summer, General DeWitt's promise to follow the Japanese evacuation with those of
the estimated 114,000 Italian and 97,000 German aliens in the western states never materialized. Slowly and gradually,
life returned to normal for the Italian fishing colony in Santa Cruz—although certain travel, work, and residency
restrictions in the coastal zones continued through the duration of the war.
On Columbus Day, October 12, 1942, in a move designed purely to generate political support, FDR had his Attorney
General, Francis Biddle, announce that Italian nationals in the U.S. would no longer be classified as "enemies." Back in
California, General DeWitt reluctantly lifted all military restrictions on Italians. (He lifted them for Germans the following
January.)
In Santa Cruz, the majority of Italian nationals forced to move from their Italian neighborhoods in the coastal zone were
allowed to return to their homes. My great grandmother was among them. Her "male notte" was over.
Little of what the Italians suffered through compares to, nor in any way diminishes, what their Japanese neighbors were
forced to endure, but suffer, still, they did. For the most part, the Italians went back to their daily routines as they had
been before the war—though as they soon learned, their lives, like the world they lived in, would never be the same.
Sources
Copyright 1996 Geoffrey Dunn. Reproduced with the permission of the author.
The content of this article is the responsibility of the individual author. It is the Library's intent to provide accurate local history
information. However, it is not possible for the Library to completely verify the accuracy of individual articles obtained from a
variety of sources. If you believe that factual statements in a local history article are incorrect and can provide documentation,
please contact the Webmaster.
6
�
Dublin Core
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Title
A name given to the resource
Santa Cruz History Articles
Description
An account of the resource
Original articles by library staff and by local authors and material from historical books.
Articles on Santa Cruz County history, many with illustrations, are available here.
The Santa Cruz Public Libraries is grateful to our local historians and their publishers for giving permission to include their articles. The content of the articles is the responsibility of the individual authors.
It is the library's intent to provide accurate information. However, it is not possible to completely verify the accuracy of individual articles obtained from a variety of sources. If you believe that factual statements in an article are incorrect and can provide documentation, please contact the library.
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Santa Cruz Public Libraries
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AR-104
Title
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Male Notte: The Untold Story of Italian Relocation During World War II
Creator
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Dunn, Geoffrey
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
Santa Cruz Public Libraries
Date
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1996
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En
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ARTICLE
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Copyright 1996 Geoffrey Dunn. Reproduced with the permission of the author.
Subject
The topic of the resource
Italian American Community
Wars-World War II
Evacuation (World War II)
Coverage
The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant
Santa Cruz (County)
1940s
Military
Minority Groups
-
https://history.santacruzpl.org/omeka/files/original/edfa33e1a9d488b880d01e724241adc3.pdf
6352b55e1ad04a33519cec07325fa97f
PDF Text
Text
World War II Veterans with Japanese Surnames
In 1948, Santa Cruz High School published a yearbook called the Service Cardinal. It attempted to list all of the
Santa Cruz High School students who served in World War II. The editors tried to obtain a photograph and a
service record for each person. The foreword in the yearbook cautions us that the information may not be
complete: "Many were indifferent, some refused to give their records, others their photographs, and a few did
not want to have anything to do with our project."
The library has used the yearbook to compile a list of those individuals we believe to be of Japanese ancestry.
We assumed a person was of Japanese ancestry because of his/her surname or because of his service unit. If
there are errors or omissions, please contact the library.
U.S. Army
Henry Y. Arao +*
Nagatoshi Fujita *
George Hashimoto
Mark Hashimoto *
Tamaki (Tom) Iwanaga *
Nobuyuki Iwanaga
Yoshimi Kawaguchi *
Mitsugi Kawaguchi *
George I. Kikuchi
Art Kitahara *
Burt Kitahara
Franklin Kitahara
Tom Masamori
Kiyoshi Miyamura
+Distinguished Service Cross *100th/442nd Regimental Combat Team
U.S. Army Air Corps
Yosh Ogawa (442nd)
U.S. Women's Army Corps
Iris A. Watanabe
1
Fred Okino
Wataru Okino *
George Otsuki *
Issie Otsuki *
Thomas Otsuki
Kuichi Takei
George Tani
�U.S. Army Intelligence Service
Tugio Iwanaga
Suama Iwanaga
Masato Kajioka
George I. Nakamura (killed in action; Silver Star)
Mark Watanabe
Source
World War II: Service Cardinal, 1948. Santa Cruz High School. Santa Cruz, CA: Santa Cruz High School, 1948.
It is the library’s intent to provide accurate information, however, it is not possible for the library to completely
verify the accuracy of all information. If you believe that factual statements in a local history article are
incorrect and can provide documentation, please contact the library.
2
�
Dublin Core
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Title
A name given to the resource
Santa Cruz History Articles
Description
An account of the resource
Original articles by library staff and by local authors and material from historical books.
Articles on Santa Cruz County history, many with illustrations, are available here.
The Santa Cruz Public Libraries is grateful to our local historians and their publishers for giving permission to include their articles. The content of the articles is the responsibility of the individual authors.
It is the library's intent to provide accurate information. However, it is not possible to completely verify the accuracy of individual articles obtained from a variety of sources. If you believe that factual statements in an article are incorrect and can provide documentation, please contact the library.
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
Santa Cruz Public Libraries
Document
A resource containing textual data. Note that facsimiles or images of texts are still of the genre text.
Original Format
If the image is of an object, state the type of object, such as painting, sculpture, paper, photo, and additional data
Digital file
Dublin Core
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Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
AR-103
Title
A name given to the resource
World War II Veterans with Japanese Surnames
Subject
The topic of the resource
Japanese American Community
Veterans
Wars-World War II
Description
An account of the resource
Santa Cruz High School students who served in World War II
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
Library Staff
Source
A related resource from which the described resource is derived
World War II: Service Cardinal, 1948. Santa Cruz High School. Santa Cruz, CA: Santa Cruz High School, 1948.
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
Santa Cruz Public Libraries
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
1948
Coverage
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Santa Cruz (City)
1940s
Format
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Text
Language
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En
Type
The nature or genre of the resource
ARTICLE
Military
-
https://history.santacruzpl.org/omeka/files/original/e254fa2209e66997ba19e814cf27fff3.pdf
6bf4c538422705639ea280b5b3a72b8f
PDF Text
Text
National Guard Training Site—Camp McQuaide
By Carmen Morones
The National Guard training site for the 250th Coast Artillery Regiment was established in Capitola in 1926. The camp
was located near the Santa Cruz-Capitola Airport (now occupied by Capitola and New Brighton Middle Schools) and
basically used as a summer camp by the 250th for a two week manuever each year. Capitola's residents objected to the
firing of guns during mauevers so, in 1938, the camp was relocated to another site.
The new location was 400 acres of newly purchased land off the coast near San Andreas Rd. It was at this site that the
camp was dedicated and named in memory of the deceased, Major Joseph P. McQuaide, who had been the Chaplain of
the 250th regiment for many years.
In the 1940's the camp was developed as a Coast Artillery Training Center for the war. It also became the official
stockade for the stateside army AWOLS. After World War II, the site was considered surplus and decommissioned. In
1948 the empty camp was considered for a local junior college but lacked county-wide support. It was subsequently
purchased by the Seventh-Day Adventists who founded the Monterey Bay Academy.
Sources
www.militarymuseum.org
www.dangel.net/250thCoastArtillery
www.capitolamuseum.org
(all visited July–August 2001)
The content of this article is the responsibility of the individual author. It is the Library's intent to provide accurate local history
information. However, it is not possible for the Library to completely verify the accuracy of individual articles obtained from a
variety of sources. If you believe that factual statements in a local history article are incorrect and can provide documentation,
please contact the Webmaster.
1
�
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
Santa Cruz History Articles
Description
An account of the resource
Original articles by library staff and by local authors and material from historical books.
Articles on Santa Cruz County history, many with illustrations, are available here.
The Santa Cruz Public Libraries is grateful to our local historians and their publishers for giving permission to include their articles. The content of the articles is the responsibility of the individual authors.
It is the library's intent to provide accurate information. However, it is not possible to completely verify the accuracy of individual articles obtained from a variety of sources. If you believe that factual statements in an article are incorrect and can provide documentation, please contact the library.
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
Santa Cruz Public Libraries
Document
A resource containing textual data. Note that facsimiles or images of texts are still of the genre text.
Original Format
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Digital file
Dublin Core
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Identifier
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AR-017
Title
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National Guard Training Site--Camp McQuaide
Creator
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Morones, Carmen
Publisher
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Santa Cruz Public Libraries
Date
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2001
Format
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Text
Language
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En
Type
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ARTICLE
Subject
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Camps-Military
Camp McQuaide
California National Guard
Coverage
The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant
Capitola
1920s
Santa Cruz (County)
Military
-
https://history.santacruzpl.org/omeka/files/original/9d9aac724d6add359bbc64b9350bfd03.pdf
b483eaa5236a5c1006ea249437c8ca98
PDF Text
Text
Pajaro Valley Nisei Veterans of World War II
The following lists are from Nihon Bunka = Japanese Culture, published by the Pajaro Valley Arts Council, 1992.
They are included on this Web site with the permission of the Council.
100th/442nd Regimental Combat Team
Henry Arao +
Mate Eto
Walt Eto
Yoshio Fujita
Tom Goto
Katsu Hada*
Henry Izumizaki*
James Izumizaki
Shig Kizuka
Tommy Kokka
Harry Madokoro* +
Bob Manabe
George Matsumoto
Nobu Matsumoto
Ray Matsushita
Mitch Miyamoto¹
Shig Morimune
Sunao Murakami
Mas Nakamoto
Mas Nita
Buzz Noda
Mas Okamura
William Ono
Sam Sakamoto
Hiroshi Shikuma
Ichiro (Sam) Sugidono
Jiro Sugidono
Kenji Torigoe
Mas Tsuda
John Tsukiji
George Ura
Yosh Wada
Jim Yoshida
+Distinguished Service Cross *Killed in Action ¹Designer of the 110th/442d Emblem
Those Who Served in Other Areas of the War
Sadao Baishiki
Jim Etow
Yon Hamai
Aki Hashimoto
Tadashi Hashimoto
Tsuyoshi Hashimoto
Walt Hashimoto
Tak Higuchi
Yas Kamitani
Yutaka Kimoto
Miyoshi Mametsuka
Sully Matsui
Shinichi Misumi
Fred Okamoto
Zen Ota
Tommy Sakata
Charles Shikuma
Roy Takamune
1
James Takehana
Howard Tao
Makoto Tsuchiyama
Tomio Tsuda
Jim Uyematsu
Roy Uyematsu
James Yamamoto
Robert Yoshida
�Military Intelligence Service
Dr. Clifford Fujimoto
Kas Jokuku
Sho Kobara
Bill Mine
Nick Nakamori
Isao Sakai
Frank Shimamoto
Bill Tao
Ben Umeda
George Wada
George Yamamoto
Robert Yamamoto
Iwao Yamashita
Source
Nihon Bunka = Japanese Culture: One Hundred Years in the Pajaro Valley. Kathryn McKenzie Nichols.
Watsonville, CA: Pajaro Valley Arts Council, 1992.
It is the library’s intent to provide accurate information, however, it is not possible for the library to completely verify the
accuracy of all information. If you believe that factual statements in a local history article are incorrect and can provide
documentation, please contact the library.
2
�
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
Santa Cruz History Articles
Description
An account of the resource
Original articles by library staff and by local authors and material from historical books.
Articles on Santa Cruz County history, many with illustrations, are available here.
The Santa Cruz Public Libraries is grateful to our local historians and their publishers for giving permission to include their articles. The content of the articles is the responsibility of the individual authors.
It is the library's intent to provide accurate information. However, it is not possible to completely verify the accuracy of individual articles obtained from a variety of sources. If you believe that factual statements in an article are incorrect and can provide documentation, please contact the library.
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
Santa Cruz Public Libraries
Document
A resource containing textual data. Note that facsimiles or images of texts are still of the genre text.
Original Format
If the image is of an object, state the type of object, such as painting, sculpture, paper, photo, and additional data
Paper
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
AR-102
Title
A name given to the resource
Pajaro Valley Nisei Veterans of World War II
Subject
The topic of the resource
Japanese American Community
Veterans
Wars-World War II
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
Nichols, Kathryn McKenzie
Source
A related resource from which the described resource is derived
Nihon Bunka = Japanese Culture: One Hundred Years in the Pajaro Valley. Kathryn McKenzie Nichols. Watsonville, CA: Pajaro Valley Arts Council, 1992.
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
Santa Cruz Public Libraries
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
1992
Coverage
The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant
Pajaro Valley
1940s
Format
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Text
Language
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En
Type
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ARTICLE
Rights
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Included with permission of the Pajaro Valley Arts Council.
Military
-
https://history.santacruzpl.org/omeka/files/original/d29eb8ce8b9803f3678fa1bd916eb284.pdf
b399f901f8dc0a2cbfadb6b486e5a0a1
PDF Text
Text
The Great White Fleet Visits Santa Cruz
By Rechs Ann Pedersen
The Great White Fleet, so-called because the ships were painted white, was a United States naval force of 16,000 men
on sixteen battleships, 6 torpedo boats, a hospital ship, and a supply ship. It began a 14-month world cruise in 1907 to
prove that the Navy could move easily between the Atlantic and the Pacific.[1]
The Arrival
The Fleet arrived in Monterey Bay on Friday, May 1, 1908. It was welcomed by communities at the
Monterey end of the Bay on Friday. The next day, the First Squadron moved to the Santa Cruz end
of the Bay. The First Squadron (8 battleships and the supply ship) visited the Santa Cruz area for
three days: May 2, 3, and 4, 1908. On May 4th, the Second Squadron and the Torpedo Flotilla left
Monterey and joined the First Squadron in Santa Cruz. The event attracted many visitors to the area
Unidentified ship, part and the city was crowded with sailors and tourists. "Never in the city's history has such a throng of
of the Great White
people glutted the thoroughfares as that which filled the public places yesterday."[2] "..such a
Fleet, 1908. Courtesy
of the Santa Cruz City crowd of people as Santa Cruz never saw before."[3]
Museum of Natural
History
The day that the First Squadron arrived in Santa Cruz, the S.C. Surf carried a long, serious article
about the supremacy of the Fleet:
"The question of naval supremacy determines the militant power of the world today. In sheer fighting strength
the United States Navy at the present moment is the second in the world. Only the British Admiralty now wields
a sea power surpassing that at the disposal of the Secretary and Assistant Secretary of the Navy in Washington.
But British boats have never made a cruise comparable to the one this fleet has made...Today we cover the
cannon's mouth with flowers, but secretly in our hearts we feel that the question of supremacy on the Pacific
will eventually have to be settled by heavy guns in favor either of Japan or of the United States. We do well to be
happy and joyous and make merry with our neighbors and Uncle Sam's sailors, but we ought not to be flippant,
nor to forget that in an hour, some day, these ships will go to victory or defeat, and that the fate of California is
bound up in that issue."[4]
But this was not the tone of the events of the next few days. Light-hearted national pride, good times, and hospitality
were the keynotes of the visit. Santa Cruzans went all out to welcome the Fleet and arranged a variety of festivities. The
festivities began with the arrival of the First Squadron early in the morning of Saturday, May 2nd. Santa Cruzans and
visitors—lots of visitors—gave them a warm, patriotic welcome:
Several thousands of eager spectators lined the bay shore for twenty miles, from Twin Lakes to the Lighthouse
Point...
1
�The squadron of Battleships leisurely swung its way around the contour of the bay at about an 8-knot speed,
coming up abreast, and then maneuvering through a series of changing positions... the battleships came
perceptibly nearer, snuggling the shore at Port Watsonville (see note), and coming close to Capitola, and then
standing out in the bay a couple of miles for permanent anchorage." 5
With flags and penants flying from every building of importance along the beach and animated groups of men,
women and children waiting expectantly, the faint smoke of the first squadron was descryed on the horizon,
approaching in battle array in conformation with the shore line of the bay.
This was the signal that caused every whistle and siren in the city and the salutation of the field gun of the Naval
Reserve located on the point beyond the San Lorenzo River to proclaim the approach of the men who are to be
our guests for the next few days...
...as these immense fighting machines moved in line to their anchorage, a number of sky rockets, to which were
attached parachutes, were sent skyward and from these immense American flags that were pendant, floated off
over the vessels and disappeared in the distance.[6]
It was a stirring sight, prompting one S.C. Sentinel reporter to write: "Then it was that a deep sense of patriotism welled
within us and we fully realized what it meant to be an American citizen."[7]
At 10:00 am, Mayor Palmer [of Santa Cruz] with the City Council and a Citizens Committee boarded the squadron
flagship, the Connecticut. They paid their respects to Admiral Thomas and discussed the events of the next days.
Telephone Connection
An interesting side note—Saturday morning the Pacific Coast Telephone Company used a mile and a half of cable to
connect the Connecticut to the Company's main office. Despite rough seas and sea sickness, "the line was towed out to
the flagship by one of the vessel's steam launches and was working within half an hour."[8] It was the first successfully
installed ship to shore telephone connection during the voyage of the Fleet.[9]
City Decorations
Downtown Santa Cruz was dressed in its finest, expressing both patriotism and pride in California:
The city is wrapped in bunting, decorated with flags and planted with redwoods. Along Pacific Avenue a
redwood is growing at the foot of every hitching post, and arches span the avenue its entire length, with flags
and redwood wreaths interwoven.
At intervals are towers opposite to each other, with shields of flag and eagle extending midway into the street.
Facing both up and down the street, are round shields set into the surface of the towers, with pictures of
military and naval heroes, and presentments of large battleships.[10]
Besides the streets and sidewalks, many buildings were decorated. The Courthouse and Hall of Records [Octagon] were
typical:
"The Court-house is a monument to the public spirit of Santa Cruz and the taste and perseverance of the
decorators. Every window-arch outlined by redwood garlands, every point and corner festooned with bunting of
the red, white, and blue, and wreaths and streamers intertwined with flags and flaglets fluttering and waving in
the breeze. Above the imposing entrance, on Cooper Street, banners and flags are caught and held by shield and
eagle, while the tree of California, the ever-living redwood, droops above it in garlands, and strive up to it with
2
�stiff, tall branches. shield and flag and eagle; and redwood in wreath, in branch, in garland, decorate the Hall of
Records, too, arching above each window, outlining the severe architecture of this heavy structure."[11]
Coincidence or not, the Santa Cruz policemen had new uniforms. Their "natty new uniforms" were the "regulation
metropolitan uniform, olive green with helmets."[12]
The Parade
The city was bedecked for the first major event of the visit on Saturday afternoon: the automobile parade down Mission
Street and Pacific Avenue. The event began with a procession of the city's school children. Each school marched as a
unit, starting with the High School. They carried their banners, flags, and masses of fresh flowers in colors of red, white,
and blue. Each school took its station along the parade route.[13]
Then came the automobile pageant. Forty automobiles and "roadsters" were in the parade, many of them decorated
with flowers.
"The Admiral was in the lead and was followed by the officers of the battleships. As they passed through the
lines of children, they were literally showered with flowers, their autos being filled with floral tributes."[14]
Saturday Festivities at the Boardwalk
At four that afternoon the Native Daughters of the Golden West and the Saturday Afternoon Club held a reception at
the Casino for the admirals and the officers.
At a little past 4 o'clock the first officers were ushered in, and most graciously received by the ladies, who had
formed a semicircle at the upper portion of the room...Mrs. McLean, president of the Afternoon Club, took the
arm of Admiral Thomas, and together they traversed the room, moving toward one of the refreshment tables,
where the Admiral enjoyed not only a glass of pineapple punch, but also the conversation and the gay laughter
of a number of young ladies gathered around the table. Other officers were pleasantly introduced by the Native
Daughters, and soon a most animated scene was in progress in the festive hall.
The dark uniforms of the officers, relieved only by gold braid and cord, formed a striking contrast to the light,
elegant dresses of the ladies. Lace dresses, silks, crepes, embroidery-covered and heavy with ornament; hats
with waving plumes, with drooping feathers, with bright flowers and rich pompons—every shade, every style of
the newest and latest, was here to be seen. Robes with graceful trains, dresses of short length, equally graceful,
were all to be seen there, and faces fair to look upon were set off by the richest costumes.[15]
That evening, J.J.C. Leonard gave a ball in honor of the admirals and officers at the Sea Beach Hotel. The First Division
Fleet Band played on the Sea Beach's veranda.
The reception and ball were by invitation only. But everyone was
invited to other events that evening, also held in the beach area:
fireworks, searchlight display, illuminated ships, and a concert by
the 22nd Infantry Band.
The Sea Beach Hotel and its gardens, prior to 1912. Property
of Santa Cruz Public Libraries
“It was fairyland at the Casino last night, light and music, and
the great warships lying in long line, each an illumination in
itself, white, transparent, and sometimes, when some
masterpiece of the pyrotechnic art burst high in air, the falling
showers of brilliant sparks would dye the water a lurid red or
flashing purple, making a wonderful effect of colors...
3
�When the search lights were turned on, the effect was magical, and cheers and shouts went up from a thousand
throats. The crowds were enormous. It was astonishing to see the crowds and see them so good-natured, so
willing to make room for still one more and so ready always with a kind word and look for the Jackies [slang
term for a U.S. Navy sailor]...
At half past nine the 22nd Infantry Band adjourned to the Casino ballroom and when the first strains echoed
through the lofty hall, there were many dancers on the floor. The music seemed to reach the ears of people far
off, for more and more dancers came, bright young girls, comely matrons, and dance-loving men who found no
difficulty in enjoying the strains of the 22nd Infantry Band.”[16]
Sunday Church Services
Many sailors attended morning church services on shore, often with the ship's chaplain assisting in the service.
"In the morning, church parties in command of an officer attended at the Catholic, Methodists, and
Congregational churches. Many were at the early mass, and about two hundred at the high mass at Holy Cross,
where Father Fisher reserved the center pews. As they left the church the Star Spangled Banner was sung. After
service, outside, the men were served soda by the ladies of the church."[17]
In the afternoon, at the invitation of the Fleet, local churches held services on board the ships.
Big Trees Excursion for the Enlisted Men
On Sunday, the enlisted men were invited on a free train excursion to Big Trees. As late as Saturday, a call went out for
food for the occasion.
"An earnest appeal is made to all the ladies of Santa Cruz to do their best to give the Jackies a good time and the
only way to do it is to see that they have plenty to eat at the trees. Sandwiches and pastry is needed in large
quantities. Let each do what she can and the lunch will be a success... The reputation of the City of Santa Cruz is
at stake. Don't let the sailor boys go away thinking us unhospitable or ungenerous."[18]
The Surf reported that all went well.
"The Womens' Relief Corps has furnished forty loaves of bread, ham and egg sandwiches, cakes, cookies and
fruit for the jackies at the Big Trees.."[19]
"The first train pulled out with five hundred aboard and every train—about six in all—carried almost as many.
Two express wagons filled with good things, such as the boys' mothers cooked, were a reminder of their days at
home, as from all over the city came the sandwiches, cakes, dough-nuts and cookies, which were served all day
long, with coffee, cheese, olives and pickles, under the shade of the giant sequoias. The Rebekahs had the affair
in charge, and all day long, numbers of the ladies and gentlemen of the order served the boys, who had all they
wanted of good food."[20]
Down at the Beach
The Boardwalk was also very busy that Sunday. Josephine Clifford McCrackin, writing for Sentinel, described the crowds
and was eager to assure herself that the jackies were enjoying themselves:
The Casino promenade and pleasure pier looked as if half a dozen Eastern banks had suspended and depositors
were crowding around for this money; but of these people many were visitors, and all of them were here to
spend money, not to clamor for it...
4
�I tried to interview [enlisted] men from all the different vessels, that is I went right up to them and asked them
how they like us and our Santa Cruz, and one and all they said "fine!" Most of them had been at Big Tree
barbecue on Sunday morning, and many of them expect to go to the Armory Ball on Monday night, and every
last one was pleased and delighted with the treatment received. ..
Earlier in the day the Santa Cruz Beach band had played, and all day long the concessions had been open, cigarstand, ice cream parlor, Gypsy fortune teller, and above them all the Casino grill in all its stately
graciousness...[21]
No dance was scheduled for Sunday night--dances were not usually held on Sunday. The sailors on leave that night
managed to have one anyway.
Early Sunday evening a crowd of sailor lads, some from every ship in the squadron, waited upon the Beach
Company officials. They wanted to dance and pleaded earnestly to be allowed to do so. When informed that
there was nothing doing in the dancing line on Sunday, they seemed heartbroken. Then they told the
management how this particular Sunday was the first chance many of them had to go ashore in several months,
on account of watches which they had been obliged to serve onboard ship. The management could not refuse
this straight forward appeal, and the sailor boys were given the keys to the pavilion and allowed to conduct their
own dance.
Wm. T. Jeter, chairman of the music committee, granted the jackies the use of the 22nd Infantry Band and the
Beach Company donated the use of the building and lights. The sailors and their lady friends then proceeded to
enjoy themselves and there was an enormous crowd in attendance.[22]
Officers' Barbecue at Big Trees on Monday
M Fleet officers and selected residents (500 invitations were sent out) were invited to a barbecue at Big Trees. 9:50 on
Monday morning, the train left the S.P. station with a 16-piece Fleet band to provide musical entertainment at the
event. Another train was scheduled at 11:30 but never left because of an accident on the tracks.
Before the meal, guests walked around the redwood groves—"Kodaks and cameras were busy."[23]
Preparations for the huge-scale barbecue had started the day before and continued into the night. The Surf reported
that:
W.R. Welch [the chef] and assistants went to the Big Trees yesterday afternoon where they worked all night.
The pit was dug in the Cowell grove. It was 15 feet long, 6 feet wide and 5 feet in depth. Five and a half cords of
oak wood and five sack of charcoal were placed in the pit. The fire started at 2 a.m. in the morning and at 10 the
hot coals created sufficient heat for the barbecuing of the meat, done in the real old Spanish style.
Large steaks were secured... Beside the four beeves and twelve sheep, there were six hundred loaves of French
bread, 200 pounds of potato salad, 100 gallons of coffee, gallons of Spanish beans, 27 cases of California wine,
12 cases Santa Cruz beer, celery, olives, cheese, and 1000 cigars.[24]
The meal was served under the redwoods by forty local men. Josephine McCrackin attended the party and reported:
"On the stand among the trees the Marine band was stationed, and gave ample proof that they could hold their
own with the 22nd Infantry and our own Santa Cruz band. How the Reception Committee managed it, I don't
know, but of all the 600 guests each one found their name on a card at the long, long tables and the crosssections...It was a right merry company, though husbands were torn from wives and fathers from daughters, so
that our guests might be provided with pleasant partners each. Beside each plate lay not only a long-stemmed,
wonderfully colored tulip, but a napkin with a napkin ring, these rings, carved of native woods, to be taken as
souvenirs.."[25]
5
�After the meal came short speeches by Mayor Palmer, Captain Schroder of the Virginia, and Lt. Governor Porter.
Visiting the Ships
While members of the Fleet went ashore to visit Santa Cruz, many Santa Cruzans and out-of-town visitors went on board
the ships on Monday. The Fleet gave Santa Cruz's school children a special invitation to tour the ships.
"All children of the Santa Cruz public schools and the School of the Holy Cross will be at the railroad wharf
promptly at nine o'clock Monday morning, accompanied by their teachers. Free transportation is to be furnished
them, and they are to go aboard the fleet at the special guests of the Fleet."[26]
Over 1200 children toured the ships.[27] Adults also took the opportunity to tour the Fleet, but they had to pay for
transportation to the ships. The round trip fare was 50 cents. "Over 5,000 tickets were sold, and over 6,000 people
visited the battleships on Monday."[28]
The Surf warned,
"If you are a gentleman, you will not attempt to light a cigar or cigarette on shipboard, and throw the match into
the ammunition hoist. For the girls, there is no close season for matches--Lucifers and the other kind—but don't
ask the same Jackie the same question, but six times—that's the limit."[29]
Besides the workings of the big guns, the tour included the cook's galley, the butcher shop, the scullery, the bake shop,
the hospital, and the brig.[30]
Monday Evening Balls
To cap off the festivities, two balls were given on Monday night, the Naval Militia ball and the Grand ball. The Naval
Militia ball was held for the enlisted men and the non-commissioned officers at the Armory. It began at 8:45, when Mrs.
Palmer, the mayor's wife, and Quartermaster Goodrich of Rhode Island lead four hundred couples in the grand march.
The Fleet Divisional Band provided the music. "Immense crowds filled the floor with dancers and the galleries with
spectators, and the ball was a complete success."[31][32]
The Grand ball given for the officers was held at the Casino. The Second Squadron arrived late Monday afternoon and
the officers were immediately invited to the ball. Like the reception on Saturday for the First Squadron admirals and
officers, the Native Daughters of the Golden West and the Saturday Afternoon Club sponsored the event. The 22nd
Infantry Band from Angel Island played for the occasion.
"The glamor of the myriad of electric lights in the beautiful ball room, the handsome ladies, elegantly gowned,
the presence of many officers in the naval full dress, with the bright brass buttons, and the gold braid, made a
scene long to be remembered."[33]
"So many of our Native Daughters are fair to look upon, and understand the art of dress to perfection... For this
was a display of wealth, though good taste held the display in check. But the fact remains that the scene in the
Casino ballroom was enchantingly beautiful; it was gorgeous too, and no city on the Atlantic Coat could have
rivaled the ball that was given in honor of the fleet officers here at Santa Cruz. If the dancing floor was crowded,
the balcony, the boxes, were simply overflowing; people stood up in the gallery, and were glad thus to obtain a
look at the gay scene below."[34]
Sports Activities
The weather was sunny the four days of the Fleet visit. The Surf reported that many of the sailors rented bicycles and
went sightseeing. Saturday and Sunday afternoons, Oakland played against Santa Cruz at the Casino baseball park. Three
thousand attended the Sunday game. Much to hometown pleasure, Santa Cruz won both games. Monday afternoon, the
6
�Fleet baseball team challenged the home team, also at the Casino park. The Sentinel sports writer flamboyantly
announced the game the day before,
" ...the latter baseball tossers are no scrubs, but the pick of the athletes from every big battleship in the mighty
Atlantic squadron. The sailor lads are ready to demonstrate that they are not only able to handle a marlin spike
and knock the double-distilled extract of whey out of things with their big guns; but they can also stop hot lines
on the firing line of the baseball diamond, and knock the dog-gasted cover off of a league ball with a weighty
willow."[35]
Unfortunately, no results of the game are given in either the Surf or the Sentinel. Some events were cancelled; it is
unclear if the game was held as planned.
The Departure
The Fleet departed at 3:00 p.m. on Tuesday, May 5, 1908. The Connecticut left early Tuesday morning to pick up Admiral
Robley D. Evens in Monterey. Admiral Robley, who had been ill, was resuming his command of the flagship.
The Connecticut was sighted on the horizon on her return trip at 2:30 and at 3 o'clock, the time set for
departure, she had rounded in position and given the signal for departure, without once lessening her speed.
Thousands of people thronged the water front and the Casino, the adjacent hills and every elevation that would
afford a view of the spectacular sight.
The torpedo flotilla had just hoisted anchor and gotten into position to depart when a rocket was fired and high
in the blue dome of the heavens appeared a red and white parachute from which hung a large American flag
that fluttered gayly for a moment and furled its bright stars and broad stripes as if in mourning over the
departure and lost itself in the haze of the distance.[36]
The crowds were especially thick at the Vue de l'Eau, the streetcar depot on the cliffs at the end of Woodrow Avenue.
"The greatest crowd ever seen by several thousand at Vue de l'Eau, was on view Tuesday afternoon. They had
arrived on foot, in the [street] cars, by carriage and auto, the head of the procession being on the Ocean Shore
as early as one o'clock. The cars remained crowded till four o'clock, the passengers on those arriving at this time
just seeing, and dimly, the stern ends of the disappearing ships."[37]
The enterprising Ocean Shore Railway Company scheduled an excursion train to Davenport, leaving from Santa Cruz at
3:00 p.m. For the round-trip fare of $.50, passengers could view the Fleet as it moved up the coast to San Francisco.[38]
"The Ocean Shore railroad carried about a hundred passengers yesterday afternoon on a follow-the-fleet trip as
far as the terminus beyond Davenport. The train which consisted of both open cars and regular carriages...kept
pace with the line of warships as they moved along in stately procession up the coast, the battleships at a
distance of about a mile from the shore, with the destroyers close in shore."[39]
Santa Cruz Justly Congratulated Herself
When the Fleet had gone, the Sentinel commented:
"As far as one is able of judging, there was not the smallest detail wanting in the entertainment provided and
Santa Cruz has acquitted herself in manner that will endear her to thousands of the pleasure-seeking public. Not
one instance, so far, has been reported of attempted extortion and all jackies had no hesitation in expressing
satisfaction at the entertainment that had been afforded them. Nor is the general public in any way to be
deprived of its full quota of credit for the success that has been achieved; for without the liberal contribution
7
�that were made to the entertainment fund, the [Fleet Fund] committee would have found itself sorely
handicapped, if not entirely embarrassed...
"...no overcharge was made by Santa Cruz business men or women while the Fleet was anchored in our harbor.
All honor to those to whom honor is due for this credit mark. Through the greed of one restaurant keeper in that
town, Santa Barbara received a discolored optic... "[40]
The Surf reported that,
"Only one pocket was picked during the visit of Fleet...[police] officers with Sheriff Trafton, went to Monterey
Friday, where they notified between thirty and forty bunko men and pickpockets who were plying their work
there, that if they came to Santa Cruz they would be arrested immediately on landing. They took the hunch
[hint?] and made direct for San Francisco and gave Santa Cruz the go-by."[41]
Finally
"Now that Santa Cruz has successfully entertained the officers and men of the sixteen warships and their
auxiliary ships, we feel able to entertain the Nation and balance of creation."[42]
Note
Port Watsonville was located on the Bay on the area that is now Sunset State Beach. It was originally called Port
Rogers and was the terminus of Watsonville Transportation Company's electric line. (Clark, Donald Thomas.
Santa Cruz County Place Names. Santa Cruz Historical Society. 1986. p. 263.)
Footnotes
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
11.
12.
13.
14.
15.
16.
"Navy, United States," World Book Encyclopedia. 2000 ed. v. 14. p.88
Santa Cruz Morning Sentinel. May 5, 1908. p.1
Ibid. May 6, 1908. p.1
Santa Cruz Surf. May 2, 1908. p.2
Ibid. May 2, 1908. p.1
Santa Cruz Morning Sentinel. May 3, 1908. p.1
Ibid. May 3, 1908. p.1
Santa Cruz Surf. May 2, 1908. p.1
Santa Cruz Morning Sentinel. May 5, 1908. p.1
Ibid. May 2, 1908. p.5
Santa Cruz Morning Sentinel. May 2, 1908. p.5
S Santa Cruz Morning Sentinel. May 2, 1908. p.1
Santa Cruz Surf. May 2, 1908. p.1
Santa Cruz Morning Sentinel. May 3, 1908. p.1
Ibid. May 3, 1908. p.1
Santa Cruz Surf. May 1, 1908. p.1
8
�17.
18.
19.
20.
21.
22.
23.
24.
25.
26.
27.
28.
29.
30.
31.
32.
33.
34.
35.
36.
37.
38.
39.
40.
41.
42.
Santa Cruz Surf. May 4, 1908. p.3
Santa Cruz Morning Sentinel. May 2, 1908. p.1
Santa Cruz Surf. May 2, 1908. p.1
Ibid. May 2, 1908. p.7
Santa Cruz Morning Sentinel. May 5, 1908. p.2
Ibid. May 5, 1908. p.1
Ibid. May 5, 1908. p.1
Santa Cruz Surf. May 5, 1908. p.1
Santa Cruz Morning Sentinel. May 5, 1908. p.1
Ibid. May 3, 1908. p.1
Santa Cruz Surf. May 4, 1908. p.8
Santa Cruz Morning Sentinel. May 3, 1908. p.1
Santa Cruz Surf. May 1, 1908. p.1
Ibid. May 4, 1908. p.6
Santa Cruz Morning Sentinel. May 5, 1908. p.1
Santa Cruz Surf. May 6, 1908. p.3
Ibid. May 6, 1908. p.7
Santa Cruz Morning Sentinel. May 5, 1908. p.1
Ibid. May 3, 1908. p.8
Ibid. May 6, 1908. p.1
Ibid. May 6, 1908. p.1
Ibid. May 3, 1908. p.5
Santa Cruz Surf. May 6, 1908. p.4
Santa Cruz Morning Sentinel. May 6, 1908. p.1
Santa Cruz Surf. May 6, 1908. p.4
Santa Cruz Morning Sentinel, May 6, 1908. p. 4
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The Great White Fleet Visits Santa Cruz
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US Armed Forces-Navy
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Pedersen, Rechs Ann
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1900s
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Military
Public Events
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Black's Beach in the 1910's with battleships in the background
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Photo of battleships on Monterey Bay taken from Black's Beach
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Lawrence, Linda
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Live Oak
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Battleship Oregon on Monterey Bay
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Battleship Oregon on Monterey Bay taken from Twin Lakes Beach
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Lawrence, Linda
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1910s
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4596350488b84b13017d4f4895273f34
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Troop of Cavalry on a fallen big Tree
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