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□ Japanese-American Hank Ebihara tried to avenge deaths of Clovis friends.By Brittney CannonSTAFF WRITER— — W bcannon @ cnjonline comWorld War II wasn’t an easy time for Japanese-Americans, hut the trials one Clovis family faced didn’t stop it from showing patriotism.Hiroshi “Hank” Ebihara and his brother, Roy Ebihara, spent most of their life in Clovis until Japan attacked Pearl Harbor on Dec. 7, 1941.Within weeks, the Ebiharas and other Japanese-Americans employed by the railroad in Clovis were removed to internment camps across the country.“Most Japanese-Americans were considered potential saboteurs andeverything else and were wrongfully incarcerated in interior relocation camps,” said Dr. Roy Ebihara, a retired eve doctor now 8land living in Oberlin,Ohio.“1 recall my father said when the war was waging, ‘You boys have to show this country that we are patriotic, loyal Americans, and you’ve got to prove that there couldn't be any better citizens.’The best way to do that, they felt, was to serve in the U.S. Army. Roy Ebihara, just 8 when the family was forced from Clovis, was able to serve his country in Korea. His older brother Hank was initially not allow ed to join the Army during WWII because he was bom in J apan.But on Feb. 4, 1943, then-22-year-old Hank Ebihara penned a letter to Secretary of War Henry Stimson and President Franklin Delano Roosevelt, pleading them for permission to enlist and “avenge” the deaths of friends he’d known in Clovis.Hank Ebihara mentioned his “pal” Curly Moppins, who “was killed outright without a chance to fight back” at Pearl Harbor. Other friends of his — Dickie Harrell among them — returned to Clovis “maimed for life,” he wrote the president.Hank Ebihara also mentioned names of friends that were able to volunteer —VETERAN on Page 3Roy Ebihara, right, receives a proclamation from Clovis Mayor David Lansford on June 6, 2014. declaring a formal apology to Japanese-Americans for being relocated to internment camps during World War II. Ebihara’s brother Hank became one of the first Japanese-Americans to enlist in the U.S. Army during World War II.
Newspaper Details
Clovis News Journal
Clovis, New Mexico, US
Wed, Nov 11, 2015
Page 1
Full Page
Clipped by
Anonymous
USA 25 Aug 2019
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