Greed was a “military secret.”
June 16, 1942: The workers at the Santa Anita Camouflage Net Factory walked off the job.
More than 18,000 Japanese Americans were imprisoned at the Santa Anita Racetrack. Some of them were held in former horse stalls. Since they had no jobs, the U.S. Army assumed they would welcome the chance to work, even for bare-minimum wages.
More than 1,200 inmates — mostly young women — became laborers at the factory, run by a private company under military contract. They produced over 22,000 camouflage nets, some as large as 36 by 60 feet.
Their pay was about 10 cents an hour. When outside the barbed wire, women doing similar work earned $31 a week, which was more than four times as much.
But the pay wasn’t the worst part. It was the danger.
There were no gloves. No masks. No protective gear. Just loose fibers, chemical fumes, and long hours.
They coughed up blood. Their hands blistered. The infirmary became routine.
Still, the work continued — until it didn’t.
On June 16, the workers walked out. They had reached their limit.
The government’s response? The WCCA (Wartime Civil Control Administration) classified the entire operation — its contracts, its abuses, and even the strike — as a “military secret.”
Exploitation. Camouflaged as national security.
But the strike worked. Inmates eventually received modest raises and basic safety gear.
Speaking up made a difference. Even from behind barbed wire.
