Japanese-American Claims Act
The attack on Pearl Harbor was a surprise military strike by the Imperial Japanese Navy on the United States naval base at Pearl Harbor in Honolulu, Hawaii, on the morning of December 7, 1941. The attack sank four U.S. battleships, destroyed 188 U.S. aircraft, and killed 2,403 U.S. citizens within two hours, and led to the United States joining World War II. Once the United States entered the war and anti-Japanese sentiment began to circulate, Americans increasingly reacted with racism and hostility, viewing people of Japanese descent were treated as enemies regardless of whether they were U.S. citizens. The U.S. government expressed concerns about the loyalty of the Japanese people living in America and about Japanese spies sending information to Japan. "The U.S. Department of the Treasury froze the assets of all citizens and resident aliens who were born in Japan, and the Department of Justice arrested some 1,500 religious and community leaders as potentially dangerous enemy aliens. Because many of the largest populations of Japanese Americans were in close proximity to vital war assets along the Pacific coast. The result was President Franklin D. Roosevelt's Executive Order 9066."
Battle of Bell Island
Bell Island and Little Bell Island are one of the few locations in North America that German forces directly attacked during the Second World War. U-boats raided the island twice in 1942, sinking four ore carriers and killing more than 60 men. The Sydney to Port-aux-Basques passenger ferry SS Caribou was sunk in the Gulf of St. Lawrence with the loss of 136 people, including women and children, and four ore carriers were torpedoed at anchor at Wabana, Bell Island, killing 69 men. It was later discovered that a spy was involved. On board U-518 was Werner von Janowski, an agent of Germany's Abwehr intelligence service. At the request of the Newfoundland Commission of Government, Canadian authorities developed defensive plans in case the Germans tried to capture St. John's.