Martial Law in Hawaii and the Niihau incident

Submitted by Henry Jenkins (United States), May 6, 2011 at 05:36

In fact, Hawaii was under martial law from Dec 7, 1941 to 1944.

This gave the military complete control of courts, curfews and even suspended Habeas Corpus.

The events of the "Niihau Incident" where a "Japanese American", Yoshio Harada, a Hawaiian born resident of Japanese ethnic background, and his wife ended up helping an escape attempt of a captured crashed Japanese fighter pilot from the Pearl Harbor attack.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Niihau_Incident

This event can not be overlooked when trying to understand the situation in Hawaii and even on the west coast.

In the official report, authored by Navy Lt. C.B. Baldwin and dated January 26, 1942, Baldwin wrote, "The fact that the two Ni'ihau Japanese who had previously shown no anti-American tendencies went to the aid of the pilot when Japan domination of the island seemed possible, indicate likelihood that Japanese residents previously believed loyal to the United States may aid Japan if further Japanese attacks appear successful."

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