The loyalty questionnaire was unpopular among prisoners in Heart Mountain and every other WRA camp, mostly because of its final two questions: Would the respondent volunteer for military service (Question 27); and would the person forswear allegiance to the Emperor of Japan (Question 28). Many young men were insulted to be asked to enlist on behalf of a country that had imprisoned them and forced the loss of their family businesses and homes. They also resented the second question, which seemed to assume that Japanese Americans had, at some point, been loyal to Japan rather than the United States. Others were simply confused, fearing that an affirmative answer to Question 27 would be equated with volunteering for dangerous combat duty, and that a "renunciation" of allegiance to Japan would be considered an admission of previous guilt and used to justify deportation or other punishment.
