Pasadena to return ‘war loot’ to Japan

Nov. 16, 1951: “An embarrassed Pasadena Board of City Directors ... decided that they have no moral right to display ‘war loot’ in the City Hall foyer,” The Times reported.

“So the Japanese temple bell which was brought to the Crown City aboard the USS Pasadena at the conclusion of World War II will somehow be returned to its rightful home.”

The city’s decision was prompted by a letter from 1st Lt. David C. Monsen, son of Courtenay Monsen, veteran secretary of the Pasadena Board of Education, the newspaper said.

From his Army station in Misasa, Japan, Monsen wrote: “It seems ludicrous that we should be sternly rebuking the Germans for looting Europe -- and simultaneously displaying the loot of our own conquest in such a manner in the Pasadena City Hall.”