I was a kid during WWII, and I remember the absolute hatred of nearly every U.S. citizen towards the Japanese. I can tell you that the Japanese were portrayed as evil demons, and that the best way to take care of them was to eradicate them. That's just the way it was, and it all started with Pearl Harbor.
I served with some WWII Pacific combat veterans. One enlisted man, in particular, would go absolutely nuts every December 7 (Pearl Harbor anniversary). If he encountered an asian man, even if he was in a U.S. uniform, he would attack him and had to be pulled off of him - got himself thrown in jail often. He was busted many times, but no officer had the guts to give him a dishonorable discharge. He had seen hell in the Pacific, and it was hard not to cut him some slack. It was not pretty, but we all understood the cause.
To this day, many U.S. citizens of that era will not buy Japanese cars or any other large Japanese-made appliances. It's hard NOT to, nowadays, and it makes some people wonder who actually won the war. We lost a lot of American flesh and blood during the war - emotions were high then. WWII vets are dying off by the thousands every year, and as they die, those feelings are no longer common. To their credit, many vets of the war eventually came to forgive and forget. Some of them, and the families of many, will never do that. I understand.
Yes, there was racism. It was encouraged by the U.S. government, and expressed in the detainment and internment of many U.S. citizens of Japanese descent. That's a fact. Viewed through the prism of today's attitudes, it was not a thing to be proud of. But you had to have been there at the time. I was, and I do not condone those actions, but I fully understood them. One thing it did accomplish was to unite the country to win the war. We have not been so united since.
John
