By Pacific Citizen Staff
November 18, 2011

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The National Park System Advisory Board Landmarks Committee voted unanimously Nov. 9 to recommend the Poston Elementary School, Unit 1, as a National Historic Landmark.

Poston was one of the largest of the ten World War II concentration camps for Japanese Americans and at the time was the third largest population center in Arizona.

“These National Historic Landmarks now serve as lessons to all of America of the delicate nature of our guaranteed freedoms in times of national stress,” said Floyd Mori, JACL national director. “These landmarks are there as a lesson learned that we should never again repeat the admitted mistakes of 1942. The JACL and others use these sites to teach youth about the Constitution and to empower them to always be protective of the basic civil liberties guaranteed therein.”

Mori and former Poston internees testified before the NPS committee. Marlene Shigekawa, who was born at the Poston camp, testified about the heartache and hardship experienced by her parents and grandparents. Shigekawa spoke of the uniting force the camp has been in bringing diverse communities together for better understanding and tolerance.

Attorney Warren Maruyama told the story of his family being uprooted and taken to an assembly center and then to two different camps. Maruyama has been an ardent supporter of Historic Landmark designation for all of the camps and has testified at numerous hearings.

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