general delos emmons, appointed military governor on 17 december, supported placing japanese-americans in internment camps and having them reclassified as enemy aliens, but he wanted to give them a chance to prove their patriotism. after general emmons agreed to let the varsity victory volunteers form, a confidential memo was sent to the war department in early april 1942 stating that 2,000 japanese-american soldiers served, and many more who wished to serve to demonstrate their loyalty to the united states. their desire was to organize into a fighting force to be sent to europe or africa to fight the germans and italians, but the request was later denied by the war department.