Imprisoned Apart: The World War II Correspondence of an Issei Couple

6. Censored

ISIX Censored As the Japanese censor is away again I write this in English. -Iwao Matsushita THE ACCOUNT OF Iwao and Hanaye Matsushita presented thus far has been assembled from family sources and Matsushita's personal papers. Their contemporaries are either no longer alive or able to share their knowledge of them. Were it not for the wartime correspondence left behind by Iwao and Hanaye, there would be no story about their personal lives during that period. During World War II, family members knew little about them, their whereabouts and the hardships they endured, because communications were all but cut off. Cable traffic between North America and Japan was closed to the public except under the rarest of circumstances. Written communication, when permitted, was limited to twenty-five words, enabling only the most basic information to be communicated, and that was further limited by the inhibiting effects of censorship.! A verbatim Red Cross message in English from Iwao at Fort Missoula on April 30, 1942, to his brother, Sekio, in Hiroshima and unaltered by the censors is typical of what little information could be communicated between civilians in the two countries: "Safe and sound in camp. Treated kindly. Meals other accommodations good. Wife moving to new location. Regards to relatives, friends. Take good care, I especially mother." Sekio's reply, inJapanese, similarly terse, only reached 101 Fort Missoula nineteen months later.2 Many families did not attempt to communicate at all, and some addresses in Japan could not be located. Red Cross message to Matsushita's brother, Sekio, in Japan. Sent April 30, 1942. Censored at Fort Missoula and New York Prisoner of War Unit. Sekio's response was received at Fort Missoula nineteen months later. r- 'oJ ite International cle I. Croi.-Rou•• y~' ....... du conlcit Gene,.I, GENEVE (Sui••) . * MERICAN RED CROSS '1) l XA\' Iii l 0 :; W.ohlnt!O•• D. C. .) By I( I:.! to Civilian Me_go Form \ SENDER - ENVOY£R. MAISU5HITA'-- ti(;;;!1 Christian n:ulIt' --- I'rtflOm ''tV AD. S,,...t-I:,,.- FO~i JVI..I~S()UL.A City - lAlla:,,; MI$SOU.l..A y' MONTANA Mesaae to be tran:"lmitted -ltftdGgt at'ClMmf'lIre- (not more than 25 voorti.:;, family new's or strictly penonal clwvter.) (1.5 tJIGCI AU ftIGZi...m. nourtUn d.. ('QrMlirr .lritlntml pereo,uwl It /amiJiaL) SH.E AND SOUND IN CA~P .m.E.A.T.E.D.. "INOLY, MEAL.S OTH~R AtC.OMMODATlD.IIlS ./fIlP. WI~E N\aVIN~ To NEW . .1".P.t:ATIIN . .Jr.Ect.~R DS To REI-ATIV ~S F~IEI\IO$ ..... ..LAKE q-ooD c: A-R.eESPECIALI.Y MD.rtf.~.&.. Because ofthe broken communication with Asia, and because most of Matsushita's contemporaries were in similar circumstances and occupied with their own concerns, the Matsushitas' correspondence with each other is the sale source of details of their everyday lives in captivity and their oscillating moods, worries, and concerns. How typical these lives were under the stresses they bore can be known only by comparing their letters with published and unpublished diaries and letters of those who 102 lived under similar circumstances.3 Families in the u.s. whose heads of household were incarcerated in Justice Department camps shared the experience ofmail censorship. Any attempt to construct a personal history from such a correspondence, which involved a situation in which daily activities were controlled, must take into account the presence ofa censor who necessarily influenced what was or was not communicated. Not only were words, phrases, sentences, and even whole paragraphs excised from both incoming and outgoing letters, but also the mere presence of the censor inhibited letter writers, who practiced self-censorship to avoid the possibility that their correspondence would not be forwarded or that they would lose their letter-writing privileges altogether. Little has been written about US. internee mail censorship during World War 11.4 Although a comprehensive study is beyond the scope of this work, a brief synopsis, nevertheless, may help provide a context for the letters that follow. MAIL CENSORSHIP DURING WORLD WAR II In World War II, postal, cable, radio, and newspaper censorship affected the lives of civilians and military personnel in virtually every nation, belligerent and neutral. The conflict generated the largest censorship operation in the world's history: at its peak in September 1942, each week in the US. alone nearly one million pieces ofinternational correspondence passed through the hands...