# Were there Blue/Gold Star banners \[indicating WWII service\] in Manzanar \[Japanese internment camps\]? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [February 7, 2018, 3:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/were-there-blue-gold-star-banners-indicating-wwii-service-in-manzanar-japanese-internment-camps/808369 "2018-02-07T15:41:43Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 15\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2018, 3:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/were-there-blue-gold-star-banners-indicating-wwii-service-in-manzanar-japanese-internment-camps/808369/1 "2018-02-07T15:41:43Z")
A rather free-ranging discussion at school this morning raised an interesting question. We were discussing the 442nd RCT and the question arose: Were there any Blue Star/Gold Star banners on display at Japanese Internment camps? Over the course of the war thousands of men joined the 442nd and were killed/wounded. Did the government allow the banners in the camps? Did anybody in the camps care about the banners, or were they too pissed off at the government to display a patriotic item like a banner? Anybody know, or can point me toward an answer? ---
**Author:** ![DSYoungEsq](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/c6cbf5/32.png) [@DSYoungEsq](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DSYoungEsq)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2018, 4:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/were-there-blue-gold-star-banners-indicating-wwii-service-in-manzanar-japanese-internment-camps/808369/2 "2018-02-07T16:56:23Z")
From the Manzanar National Historic Site website, there is this quote taken from the paper published by the internees themselves: “Manzanar has its first gold star mother. We had dreaded the day when some family in Manzanar would receive the fateful telegram….” Manzanar Free Press article on Pfc. Frank Arikawa’s death So I would assume yes. [Link to the article on the website](https://www.nps.gov/manz/learn/historyculture/japanese-americans-at-manzanar.htm) I would send an email to Manzanar and ask them. BTW: I grew up about 70 miles from Manzanar. It’s a pretty sobering reminder to me every time I drive by it on US 395, which is often, as I now own property nearby. ☹ ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2018, 5:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/were-there-blue-gold-star-banners-indicating-wwii-service-in-manzanar-japanese-internment-camps/808369/3 "2018-02-07T17:08:48Z")
Cool. Thank you. ---
**Author:** ![Northern\_Piper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/northern_piper/32/5304_2.png) [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2018, 8:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/were-there-blue-gold-star-banners-indicating-wwii-service-in-manzanar-japanese-internment-camps/808369/4 "2018-02-07T20:30:09Z")
Help a Canuck poster. What are Blue/Gold Star banners, and what is Manzanar? 😕 ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2018, 8:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/were-there-blue-gold-star-banners-indicating-wwii-service-in-manzanar-japanese-internment-camps/808369/5 "2018-02-07T20:34:06Z")
> [@Northern\_Piper](#): > > Help a Canuck poster. What are Blue/Gold Star banners, and what is Manzanar? 😕 **Moderator Note** Thread title edited to indicate subject better. To the OP: Please use descriptive thread titles that will be understandable to most posters. Colibri General Questions Moderator PS. The 442nd Regimental Combat Team was a unit during WWII made up mostly of Japanese Americans, whose families were confined in internment camps. ---
**Author:** ![Rick\_Kitchen](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rick_kitchen/32/522_2.png) [@Rick\_Kitchen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rick_Kitchen)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2018, 8:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/were-there-blue-gold-star-banners-indicating-wwii-service-in-manzanar-japanese-internment-camps/808369/6 "2018-02-07T20:39:03Z")
> [@Northern\_Piper](#): > > Help a Canuck poster. What are Blue/Gold Star banners, and what is Manzanar? 😕 Manzanar was one of the internment camps where Japanese citizens of the United States were held during World War II. A blue star banner was put in the window of a house to indicate that a member of the household was serving during the war. There was a star for each member of the family on the banner. A gold star banner indicated member/s of the household who had died. A mother of a dead service member was called a Gold Star Mother. ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2018, 8:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/were-there-blue-gold-star-banners-indicating-wwii-service-in-manzanar-japanese-internment-camps/808369/7 "2018-02-07T20:55:15Z")
> [@DSYoungEsq](#): > > From the Manzanar National Historic Site website, there is this quote taken from the paper published by the internees themselves: > > “Manzanar has its first gold star mother. We had dreaded the day when some family in Manzanar would receive the fateful telegram….” Manzanar Free Press article on Pfc. Frank Arikawa’s death > > So I would assume yes. So certainly there was at least one woman who could display a gold star but it doesn’t answer the question of whether blue or gold stars were displayed at that or other internment camps. ---
**Author:** ![Kent\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kent_clark/32/105_2.png) [@Kent\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kent_Clark)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2018, 11:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/were-there-blue-gold-star-banners-indicating-wwii-service-in-manzanar-japanese-internment-camps/808369/8 "2018-02-07T23:16:48Z")
Here’s a photo from[Minidoka](https://www.nps.gov/nr/travel/cultural_diversity/Minidoka_Internment_National_Historic_Site.html) (a different camp) with a sign listing all of the internees who were serving. That’s exactly what the Blue Star flags represented. ---
**Author:** ![DSYoungEsq](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/c6cbf5/32.png) [@DSYoungEsq](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DSYoungEsq)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2018, 11:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/were-there-blue-gold-star-banners-indicating-wwii-service-in-manzanar-japanese-internment-camps/808369/9 "2018-02-07T23:56:06Z")
> [@Dewey\_Finn](#): > > So certainly there was at least one woman who could display a gold star but it doesn’t answer the question of whether blue or gold stars were displayed at that or other internment camps. First of all, I didn’t say it did. I said I assumed the result (that’s called reaching a conclusion based upon one’s experiences leading to an intuitive guess). Second of all, if the camp’s own internal newspaper, written and produced by the internees themselves, was talking about her as a gold star mom, I think it’s fair to believe that there would be at least some mothers who would display their pride in their son(s) serving and dying. Otherwise, why would they use the terminology? ---
**Author:** ![thelurkinghorror](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/7c8e57/32.png) [@thelurkinghorror](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thelurkinghorror)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2018, 12:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/were-there-blue-gold-star-banners-indicating-wwii-service-in-manzanar-japanese-internment-camps/808369/10 "2018-02-08T00:23:23Z")
The majority of the internees were patriotic and not bitter, though not completely, e.g. about 20% expressed [some degree of unwillingness](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Internment_of_Japanese_Americans#Loyalty_questions_and_segregation) to support the government, though for varying reasons. ---
**Author:** ![Loach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/loach/32/350_2.png) [@Loach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loach)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2018, 1:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/were-there-blue-gold-star-banners-indicating-wwii-service-in-manzanar-japanese-internment-camps/808369/11 "2018-02-08T01:22:08Z")
I wonder if George Takei reads and answers questions sent to him? ---
**Author:** ![jasg](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f0a364/32.png) [@jasg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jasg)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2018, 2:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/were-there-blue-gold-star-banners-indicating-wwii-service-in-manzanar-japanese-internment-camps/808369/12 "2018-02-08T02:50:55Z")
> [@silenus](#): > > A rather free-ranging discussion at school this morning raised an interesting question. We were discussing the 442nd RCT and the question arose: Were there any Blue Star/Gold Star banners on display at Japanese Internment camps? Over the course of the war thousands of men joined the 442nd and were killed/wounded. Did the government allow the banners in the camps? Did anybody in the camps care about the banners, or were they too pissed off at the government to display a patriotic item like a banner? > > Anybody know, or can point me toward an answer? Yes. Here is a [photograph](https://calisphere.org/item/ark:/13030/ft1x0nb00c/) of three sisters, all married to members of the 442nd. On the wall is a banner with 3 stars. ---
**Author:** ![Loach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/loach/32/350_2.png) [@Loach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loach)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2018, 4:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/were-there-blue-gold-star-banners-indicating-wwii-service-in-manzanar-japanese-internment-camps/808369/13 "2018-02-08T04:38:51Z")
> [@jasg](#): > > Yes. Here is a [photograph](https://calisphere.org/item/ark:/13030/ft1x0nb00c/) of three sisters, all married to members of the 442nd. On the wall is a banner with 3 stars. That does not look like pictures I’ve seen in the camps. ---
**Author:** ![running\_coach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/running_coach/32/15836_2.png) [@running\_coach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/running_coach)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2018, 4:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/were-there-blue-gold-star-banners-indicating-wwii-service-in-manzanar-japanese-internment-camps/808369/14 "2018-02-08T04:47:02Z")
> [@jasg](#): > > Yes. Here is a [photograph](https://calisphere.org/item/ark:/13030/ft1x0nb00c/) of three sisters, all married to members of the 442nd. On the wall is a banner with 3 stars. > [@Loach](#): > > That does not look like pictures I’ve seen in the camps. From the description. > [@](#): > > Full title:Shown left to right are Mrs. Paul Kitsuse, Mrs. Karl Nakazawa, and Mrs. Sada Tachi, sisters, and wives of Sgt. Kitsuse, Pfc. Nakazawa, and Corp. Tachi respectively. **these young women have combined resources and found themselves a very beautiful apartment which they share.** > [@](#): > > **Mrs. Tachi is employed.** Mrs. Nakazawa and Mrs. Kitsuse are kept busy with their infant children, Roger Karl and Suzanne. Their soldier husbands are all a part of 442nd Infantry in Italy. That sounds like they were no longer in the camps. 😕 ---
**Author:** ![Mr\_Downtown](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/8e8cbc/32.png) [@Mr\_Downtown](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr_Downtown)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2018, 4:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/were-there-blue-gold-star-banners-indicating-wwii-service-in-manzanar-japanese-internment-camps/808369/15 "2018-02-08T04:52:35Z")
Look at the Description field; the three sisters are sharing an apartment, probably in Ohio, once internees were allowed to move from the camps to the middle of the country. I can’t give a definitive answer, but I’ve never heard of any reason a Blue or Gold Star Banner _wouldn’t_ be displayed in the various camps.