Draft:Herbert V. Nicholson

Herbert V. Nicholson and his wife Madeline Waterhouse

Herbert V. Nicholson (1892-1983) was a Quaker missionary who served in Japan for 25 years. He was known as one of the most high profile non-Japanese who advocated for their cause in response to Executive Order 9066.

Early Life

Herbert V. Nicholson was born in 1892 in Rochester, New York. He was born to Quaker parents and was educated at Quaker schools, including Haverford College in Pennsylvania. He spent his childhood in New York before him and his family moved to the suburbs in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. He grew up learning about God and Christ and his passion for missionary work grew when his mother talked about missionary work in China. Before working as a missionary, Nicholson worked as a secondary school teacher. It was not until he finished college at the age of 23 in 1915 where he decided to serve as a missionary in Japan. After going through multiple business courses in order to prepare for the mission field, he began working for a Quaker missionary in Tokyo, Gilbert Bowles, Japan. He also met his wife, Madeline Waterhouse while he was serving as a missionary in Japan. After his marriage to Madeline Waterhouse in 1920, they both continued to teach and serve in the Mito area of Japan. By 1939, the tension between Japan and China grew worse as China invaded Japan. This grew the suspicion that Nicholson is an American Spy. Due to international tensions, Nicholson and his family returned to Pasadena, California, USA., and still continued to serve in the West Los Angeles Japanese Church.

During WWII

After the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, Nicholson, the only Caucasian in a Japanese Church, steadily had his parishioners deported to evacuation camps. Before doing this, he helped store many valuables of the Japanese-Americans, promising them that they would soon reconcile with them. He already had support from the Nisei congregation thanks to his impressive Japanese language skills. After the signing of Executive Order 9066, Nicholson worked with his wife in supporting those being relocated, in particular how to protect their possessions that couldn’t be brought with them. One such instance entailed him supporting a group of 500 fishermen given only a few days to evacuate Terminal Island. Nicholson worked continuously during the war years supporting those detained, and did so for little to no pay. The US government offered him a position in Naval Intelligence due to his knowledge of Japanese, but Nicholson turned it down, forgoing a lucrative job.

Immediately after the attack, individuals on the government’s FBI black list were detained. Nicholson was spurred into action after hearing those detained included war veterans from WW1. Nicholson’s main contribution during the period of detainment was bringing news and supplies between camps. He would also bring messages from relatives and friends to people in different camps. Nicholson was vocal in his disagreement with the decision to detain Japanese-Americans, this included organizing a letter writing campaign defending individuals detained and decrying the incarceration. Nicholson would also speak at Churches and in DC against the treatment. As a result of his stance on the issue, Nicholson was under surveillance by the US government and FBI. This did not deter Nicholson from continuing to advocate for the release of Japanese-Americans, along with Italian and German Americans held in custody.

Owing to its proximity, Nicholson had an outsized impact on the Tuna Canyon Detention Camp. Nicholson would attend hearings for Japanese women who were language teachers. In one particular instance he chastised a hearing officer for being irreverent in reducing a woman to tears. Nicholson’s words helped get the women cleared and pass the hearing. Near the camp was a sanitarium where those seriously ill would be housed. Herbert and his wife would help the infirm and help organize a blood drive. Nicholson would also run Church services on Sunday afternoon to provide spiritual support.

Japanese American Advocate During the Incarceration

After the attack on Pearl Harbor, Japanese and Japanese Americans were forced to relocate due to the fear of being cooperative with the Japanese government. Six hundred men around the West Coast areas were arrested followed by women. Many were detained without formally being charged for legal reasons. Nicholson found this unfair and went to the Terminal Island Prison, a detention center in the Los Angeles area, and appealed for the innocence of Japanese Americans, implying that there was no reason to incarcerate them. He traveled along the West Coast to comfort families whose members were incarcerated or arrested by the FBI. Because of his fluency in Japanese, he was often the translator as well as the advocate in the camps. He has traveled to the Manzanar Relocation Center multiple times and got official permission to enter the camp when wanted along with his family due to his Quaker background and connections. He drove a pickup truck he bought from Tom Yamamoto, a grocery store owner from Terminal Island, and called himself a truck driver during the trips to the camps. He would mostly take things out of storage and transport personal belongings and even pets to the Japanese Americans in the camps.

Life After the War

After the war, Nicholson returned to Japan and brought lots of supplies such as cattle, which includes sheep, goats and chickens. He gave this cattle to towns who were devastated from the war. This earned him the nickname of “Uncle Goat” and he was honored with an Imperial Decoration, 4th Class of the Sacred Treasure. He and his wife lived in Japan from 1950 to 1961. During this time they established a branch of the Worldwide Evangelism Crusade in the Gokanosho region of Kumamoto Prefecture. In 1961 they returned to Pasadena. Nicholson died in 1983.

Legacy

Nicholson is mentioned in the 2019 graphic novel They Called Us Enemy.