“Delos Carleton Emmons was born on January 17, 1888, in Huntington, West Virginia. He graduated from the United States Military Academy in June 1909 and was commissioned a second lieutenant of infantry. He later transferred to aviation and rose through the ranks, becoming a major general in 1939.”
“He was soon promoted to lieutenant general and became chief of the Air Force Combat Command in June 1941. He replaced Major General Walter C. Short as commanding general of the Hawaiian Department on December 17, ten days after the Pearl Harbor attack.”
“Emmons oversaw the implementation of martial law in Hawai‘i and is credited with preventing the mass exclusion of Japanese in the Islands. He also promoted the entry of the Nisei into the military with the formation of the 100th Infantry Battalion and eventually encouraged the end of the mass incarceration of Japanese Americans on the mainland.” (Nakamura)
“Martial law involved the outright suspension of constitutional liberties as civilian courts were declared closed. Additionally, all government functions—federal, territorial, and municipal—were placed under army control, and a military regime was established. “
“As the commanding general, Emmons held the title of the ‘Military Governor’ of Hawai‘i and controlled the entire civilian population with absolute discretionary powers.”
“According to some ‘Emmons played a key role in the fate of Japanese Americans in Hawai‘i’ by challenging allegations of sabotage made by Navy Secretary Frank Knox. Emmons is thus credited with preventing plans for the mass forced removal of Japanese from the Islands citing logistical problems, cost, and labor shortages.”
“However, in lieu of mass removal, the army and the FBI quickly rounded up aliens and other suspicious persons in the Japanese community who had been investigated earlier for being disloyal or dangerous during a war. Of the 1,569 persons eventually detained on suspicion of disloyalty, 1,444 were of Japanese descent.”
“Emmons also played a key role in the formation of the 100th Infantry Battalion and supported the entry of Nisei into the military who were partly responding to ‘extreme insecurity’ in wartime Hawai‘i.”
“During the period of military rule in Hawai‘i that lasted until late October 1944, some 181 general orders were issued under the names of the commanding general Emmons and Lt. Col. Thomas H. Green, the latter having been given the title of ‘Executive, Office of the Military Governor.’” (Nakamura)
“The so-called ‘money order’ was issued as General Orders #51 and dated January 9, 1942. The effective date of the order was January 12th, three days after the issuance of it.”
“Before the effective date of the order, more than one and one-half million dollars had been deposited in the banks and on each of the following days there were queues of people waiting to deposit their money in the banks.”
“Suddenly, the banks found themselves with more than twenty million dollars on deposit. Some of the money deposited was in the form of gold certificates long outmoded by the Treasury, and much of the money was moist and even wet, indicating that it had recently been excavated.”
“The public response to General Orders # 51 was instantaneous. Perhaps some of it was motivated by fear of punishment because the penalties prescribed were severe. However, I think the major factor in this, as well as in all other undertakings, was that the public trusted the integrity and intelligence of the Military Governor.”
“The problem of keeping the banks supplied with money having been solved for the moment, there still remained the greater problem of substituting something for that money. I was obsessed with the idea that something further must be done in the interest of security.”
“I finally came up with the idea of exchanging United States currency for some other form of legal tender which, in the event of invasion, could be outlawed as legal tender and therefore defeat its use by an invader.”
“I appreciated that any such plan would have to be approved by the United States Treasury. I began discussing the idea with my staff and decided upon a substitute paper money which would be red in color instead of green.”
“I began calling it ‘Emmons Money.’”
“I took up the matter with General Emmons who scoffed at the idea of calling the substitute money ‘Emmons Money’ but he told me to go ahead.”
“Early in March 1942, a Treasury detail came to Hawaii from Washington to close the deal with us whereby regular currency would be exchanged for specially printed paper money. The agreement was consummated and some twenty million dollars on regular currency was exchanged for the special issue money.”
“When the new money arrived I was disappointed as I hoped that it would be red in color and have ‘Emmons’ written all over it.”
“The new bills were similar to the ordinary bank note except that the seals and the numbers were printed in brown ink instead of green and the bills bore the word ‘Hawaii’ overprinted in black on both sides. It was explained to me that the printing of red money would require prohibitive changes in normal Treasury practice and processes.”
“The new bills worked out well, in fact there was an immediate demand for the new currency and the transfer from the old to the new was made without incident.”
“The objective of the plan was now complete. It placed the Treasury in the position of being able to declare our overprinted Hawaiian money not legal tender in the event that the (Japanese)s were able to take the Hawaiian Islands.” (Maj Gen Thomas H Green)
“The plan worked so well in Hawaii that the use of scrip was adopted all-over the world wherever our troops served. While the need for ‘Emmons money’ ceased with the termination of hostilities with Japan, the money is still in use and I have personally received some of the bills in change in various parts of the United States.”
“I obtained the first four one dollar bills of this Emmons money to be issued in Hawaii by exchanging for it four one dollar bills of regular currency.”
“At my request, General Emmons endorsed his name on all four bills and I did likewise. I then sent all four bills to Admiral Nimitz with the request that he endorse his name on all four bills, retain one for his scrap book and return the other three to me.”
“In my letter of transmittal, I explained that I intended to give General Emmons one of the bills for his scrap book, retain one for myself, and send the fourth to The Adjutant General of the Army for historical purposes, because, to my knowledge, it was the first time such a money transaction had been accomplished.”
“With his reply, dated July 29, 1942, Admiral Nimitz returned all four of the bills, duly endorsed, and stating that he was not including American currency in his scrap book and added, ‘No doubt you will have constructive use for the one allocated to me.’”
“At the bottom of the letter was a pen-written postscript which typifies the keen sense of humor possessed by that great commander. It read, ‘I have a particular yen for Japanese yen taken from captured or destroyed planes – and if you get a collection of that kind of currency please don’t forget me. CWN.’” (Maj Gen Thomas H Green)
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