The surprise attack on Pearl Harbor led military and U.S. leaders to suspect that Imperial Japan was preparing a full-scale invasion of the US West Coast. Due to Japan's rapid military conquest of a large portion of Asia and the Pacific between 1937 and 1942, some Americans feared Japan's military forces were unstoppable. The largest population of Japanese Americans resided on the West Coast. Many Americans believed that their loyalty to the United States was questionable. After Pearl Harbor, U.S. public opinion turned against Japanese Americans. Executive Order 9066, signed by FDR on February 19, 1942, authorized military commanders to designate "military areas" to force Japanese Americans into "alien enemy" roundups. Within hours, Japanese families were forced to sell their homes and businesses for virtually nothing and sent to camps throughout the western and southern U.S. where they were forced to live under armed guards, in sparse conditions for the entirety of WWII. Close to 120,000 people of Japanese ancestry were subject to this mass exclusion program. Internees were housed in "tar paper-covered barracks of simple frame construction without plumbing or cooking facilities of any kind". Many camps were built quickly during the summer of 1942 based on designs for military barracks, making the buildings poorly equipped and cramped family living. In many camps, 25 people were forced to live in space built to contain 4, leaving no room for privacy. Armed guards were posted at the camps, which were all in remote, desolate areas far from population centers. Internees were typically allowed to stay with their families. There are documented instances of guards shooting internees who reportedly attempted to walk outside the fences. There was little relief from the extreme elements of cold and hot weather. The camps lacked running, warm water, decent food, medical care and schooling for small children and teens. One of the ways that male teens could leave the camps was to enlist in segregated U.S. army units. One such unit, the 442nd, helped the U.S. & its allies invade Italy in 1943. The 442nd suffered incredibly high casualty rates. Those who survived received purple hearts and the designation of serving in America's most highly decorated army unit during WWII. Decades later, on 9/27/92, the Civil Liberties Act Amendments, appropriated $400 million to ensure all living internees received $20,000 reparations payments. President George H. W. Bush issued a formal apology from the U.S. government on December 7, 1991, on the 50th anniversary of the Pearl Harbor attack. Over 81,800 people qualified by 1998 and $1.6 billion was distributed among them.