Hawaiian Territorial Guard, Hawaii, December 1941

No one was more enraged by the attack on Pearl Harbor than the men of the Hawaiian Territorial Guard. The HTG was composed primarily of Japanese American volunteers from the University of Hawaii ROTC. In the heat of battle, they rushed medicines, transported the injured, and struggled tirelessly to assist the military in damage control. Many of the Japanese Americans in uniform were disarmed and assigned to menial labor. The Guard spent long hours patrolling the islands in anticipation of an enemy invasion. Two days after the attack, a Caucasian soldier approached a Japanese American in uniform and asked him what he would do if the Japanese landed today. He answered, "Your uniform and my uniform are the same. We’re not different. The same uniform means we’re in the same army. You’re American; I’m American too. If they attack now, I would shoot them." After the bombing of Pearl Harbor the U.S. Government was still unsure on the loyalty of the Japanese Americans and considered them 4C (Enemy Alien). As a result, all Japanese Americans were discharged from the Hawaiian Territorial Guard.

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