The 2011 holiday issue: The Camps, from assembly centers to pilgrimage

Vol. 153, No. 11, December 16, 2011. 121 pages. View this issue

The camps were the subject of the 2011 holiday issue, in a theme Executive Editor Caroline Aoyagi-Stom titled “Liberty Lost to Community Empowerment.” Writers returned to Topaz, Rohwer, Tule Lake, Jerome, Gila River, Heart Mountain, Poston and Minidoka, and to the assembly centers at Merced, Turlock, Pinedale and Fresno. Milo Yoshino, Eiichi Kamiya and Kathryn Ling Nakano described their own visits, and Bruce Embrey traced the Manzanar pilgrimages that began in 1969. The paper’s 1942 and 1943 coverage of the World War II incarceration (often called internment) appears alongside these accounts.

Also inside: a 1979 pilgrimage guide to ten major camps, a report on the legal fight over a dairy feedlot near the Minidoka National Historic Site, and a piece by John Tateishi on the Merced memorial. About 53 of its 121 pages carry holiday greetings.

What’s in this issue

Commentary

• The Camps: Liberty Lost to Community Empowerment, by Caroline Aoyagi-Stom, page 5. The Executive Editor introduces the 2011 Holiday Issue’s theme covering WWII Japanese American concentration camps, explaining the goal of providing a comprehensive overview of camps and assembly centers. She thanks JACL chapters and advertisers who support the issue and the Pacific Citizen staff who produced it.

In-Depth

• Children at Topaz Camp Write Poignant Story of Evacuation, by P.C. Staff, page 6. Excerpts from All Aboard, a publication written by Topaz children, describe the day war started, the aftermath at school, and eventual evacuation to Tanforan and Topaz. The childlike accounts convey confusion, fear, and hope amid the upheaval of internment.
• Don’t You Know That They Are Still Here?, by Milo Yoshino, page 8. Yoshino recounts his 2008 visit to Topaz with his wife, guided by Delta resident Jane Beckwith, discovering artifacts, his sister’s birth announcement, and the site of his parents’ barrack apartment. The visit connects him emotionally to his family’s incarceration history and the effort to preserve Topaz’s legacy.
• Rohwer: A Return to Arkansas, by Eiichi Kamiya, page 13. Kamiya recounts his family’s incarceration at Santa Anita, Jerome, and Rohwer, and his 1979 return trip to Rohwer with his wife and children to find the site of his childhood block. He meets local residents who share their memories of the camp and reconnects with his old bayou fishing spot.
• Rohwer Now: Locating Block 38-11-A, by P.C. Staff, page 16. This continuation of Kamiya’s Rohwer story details his tour of the former campsite with local residents Jake and Wilma Dunnahoe, who shared memories of camp life and Japanese American farming. Kamiya successfully locates the exact site of his family’s former barrack using landmarks like an old pump house.
• Silver Linings to Tule Lake, by Kathryn Ling Nakano, page 17. Nakano describes her 2009 pilgrimage to Tule Lake Segregation Center, learning about the loyalty questionnaire, Public Law 405 renunciation, and the divide between renunciants and veterans in the JA community. She highlights the town of Redding’s support for pilgrims as a ‘silver lining’ amid the camp’s painful history.
• Birthplace Revisited: Tule Lake, by Tetsuo Ted Shigyo, page 19. Shigyo describes his 1970 trip with a friend to visit Tule Lake, his birthplace, twenty-five years after the camp closed, finding the site nearly barren except for a farming community called Newell. He reflects on his desire to connect with his heritage despite his parents’ reluctance to discuss their wartime experience.
• Japanese America’s Future Rests in Nisei Hands, by Leif Erickson, page 21. This 1943 Associated Press article describes conditions at the Granada (Amache) Relocation Center, noting Nisei residents’ desire to prove loyalty through military service and the tensions between Nisei and Issei generations. It also covers disagreements about congressional investigation of the WRA and Army control of the centers.
• Gila River Revisited, by Masaji Inoshita, page 34. Inoshita describes his emotional visits back to the Gila River Relocation Center site over the decades after volunteering for the Military Intelligence Service from camp in 1942. He recounts guiding visitors and reunions, including a 1995 event with over 1,000 attendees and Governor Mary Thomas’s welcome to the Gila River Indian Community.
• Will We Feel the Ghost of the Past at Jerome?, by Ben Arikawa, page 38. Arikawa reflects on his father’s photo album from Jerome, discovering images of friendships formed at camp and wondering about his father’s daily life there. He hopes to eventually visit the largely unrestored Jerome site with his daughter, as he has visited Manzanar.
• Resettlement Trend Strikes Jerome Center, by Joe Oyama, page 40. This 1943 article describes how, unlike other camps, Jerome had a ‘bad start’ due to isolation, unfavorable publicity, and hostile incidents, which paradoxically fueled a resettlement ‘bug’ among evacuees eager to leave the South. Oyama details the surge in evacuees seeking permanent employment outside the camp.
• From Ghostly Ruins to a Historic Site, by Bruce Embrey, page 41. Embrey chronicles the history of Manzanar pilgrimages beginning in 1969, led by his mother Sue Kunitomi Embrey, through the fight for a state historical landmark, the Redress Movement, and eventual National Historic Site designation in 1992. The piece traces decades of activism culminating in the establishment of a museum and ongoing commemorations.
• Teaching the Past to Influence the Future, by Christine McFadden, page 51. This 2011 article covers the grand opening of the Heart Mountain Wyoming Foundation Interpretive Learning Center, featuring speakers like Judge Lance Ito and filmmaker Steven Okazaki whose families were incarcerated there. The center includes re-created barrack rooms and an introductory film aimed at educating future generations.
• Homesteaders Unveil Plaque, by P.C. Staff, page 53. This 1978 article describes the dedication of a memorial park at the former Heart Mountain campsite, organized by homesteaders including Chester and Mary Ruth Blackburn. Denver Post editor Bill Hosokawa gave the main address, reminding attendees that the memorial serves as a warning against repeating such injustice.
• Bringing Poston Back to the Present, by Christine McFadden, page 61. McFadden reports on the Poston Restoration Project’s efforts to preserve the largest remaining internment camp infrastructure, driven by former internee Dr. Ruth Okimoto’s research into the WRA’s deal with the Office of Indian Affairs. The article details restoration challenges, including a 2002 arson fire, and the collaborative work between JA community members and the Colorado River Indian Tribes.
• Evacuees Build New Life in Dust, Sweat, Heat, by Franklyn Sugiyama, page 66. This 1942 article describes the harsh desert conditions at the newly built Poston camp, including extreme heat, dust storms, and inadequate facilities, while also detailing the social life, sports, and entertainment evacuees created. Sugiyama notes the camp’s water resources and cultural activities despite the challenging environment.
• Coalition Continues Fight Against Dairy Farm Near Minidoka, by Christine McFadden, page 70. This article covers the legal battle over a proposed 13,000-cow dairy feedlot located 1.2 miles from the Minidoka National Historic Site, which opponents argue threatens the site’s integrity through pollution and odor. A coalition including Friends of Minidoka and the National Park Service is appealing a court ruling that favored the dairy’s permit.
• Merced May Go to Colorado, by P.C. Staff, page 83. This 1942 brief reports tentative plans for Merced Assembly Center residents to be relocated to the WRA project at Granada, Colorado between August 31 and September 8. The announcement was made to address rumors circulating among the center’s residents.
• Merced Memorial, by John Tateishi, page 84. Former JACL National Director John Tateishi reflects on attending the February 2010 dedication of the Merced Assembly Center Memorial, questioning the speed and enthusiasm with which the temporary camp was constructed just days after Congress passed relevant legislation. He argues plans for such camps were likely developed years before Pearl Harbor, making the memorial an important educational reminder.
• Memorial to be Dedicated at Former Turlock Assembly Center Site, by Christine McFadden, page 85. Graduate student Kayla Canelo led efforts to create a monument at the former Turlock Assembly Center site at the Stanislaus County Fairgrounds, working with the Cortez JACL to raise funds. The article details the challenges of locating former internees who were dispersed throughout California after the war, unlike those from Merced.
• Turlock Center Resident Will Be Relocated to Gila River Area, by P.C. Staff, page 89. This 1942 article announces the Army’s transfer of approximately 3,575 evacuees from the Turlock Assembly Center to the newly opened Gila River Relocation Project in Arizona. It also details a concurrent transfer from the Pinedale Assembly Center to Tule Lake and Colorado River Relocation Projects.
• Pioneer Japanese, 80, Succumbs at Pinedale Assembly Center, by P.C. Staff, page 91. This 1942 article reports the death of 80-year-old Henry S. Matsumoto, a Tacoma flower dealer who took his American citizenship oath in 1892, while interned at the Pinedale Assembly Center. He is survived by two sons, including a 32-year Navy chief petty officer, and a daughter.
• Pinedale Center Now Ghost Town, by P.C. Staff, page 91. This 1942 article reports that Pinedale Assembly Center, formerly home to 4,750 Japanese Americans, became a ‘ghost town’ after the final contingent left for Tule Lake Relocation Center. Most residents had come from Hood River, Oregon and areas near Seattle, Washington.
• Pinedale Remembrance Plaza Honors the Japanese American Story, by Leslie K. Tamura, page 91. This 2009 article covers the dedication of the Pinedale Assembly Center Memorial (Remembrance Plaza) in Fresno, featuring keynote speaker Norman Y. Mineta and a bronze fountain designed by artist Gerard Tsutakawa. The memorial includes storyboards tracking JA history from WWII through the 1987 Redress Act.
• Fresno Girl Last to Quit Coast Center, by P.C. Staff, page 94. This 1942 article reports that Hiroko Kamikawa, 22, was the last person removed from California assembly centers when she left Fresno for Jerome Relocation Center. A follow-up update reveals she later worked for the War Relocation Authority and the Department of the Interior in occupied Tokyo.
• A Dedication for the Fresno Assembly Center, by Bobbi Hanada, page 95. Former internee Nancy Suda reflects on the October 2011 dedication of the upgraded Fresno Assembly Center Memorial, sharing her father’s story of becoming a naturalized citizen after the war. The new memorial features a granite fountain, banners, and storyboards listing all Fresno Assembly Center internees.
• Pilgrimage Guide to American Concentration Camps, by P.C. Staff, page 112. This 1979 reference guide provides detailed location, dates, detainee numbers, and site information for each of the ten major WWII camps including Tule Lake, Manzanar, Heart Mountain, Poston, Gila River, Jerome, Granada/Amache, Minidoka, Topaz, and Rohwer. It was compiled by Raymond Okamura with assistance from several other researchers and former internees.
• Staying Connected to Rohwer, by Malynn Hogan, page 113. Hogan describes bringing her own children to visit Rohwer decades after her father Eiichi Kamiya first took her family there in 1979. She shares handmade camp toys and family stories with her children to help them connect with their grandfather’s childhood experience at the camp.

Arts & Entertainment

• Gila River High School’s Yearbook, by Harry K. Honda, page 30. Honda reflects on his cousin David Monji’s 1943 Butte High School yearbook from Gila River, describing camp religious services by Buddhist, Protestant, and Catholic clergy and sports played under difficult conditions. He also discusses Eleanor Roosevelt’s 1943 visit to the camp and later criticism of her comments by author Michi Weglyn.

Obituaries

• Gene Hashimoto Doi, by P.C. Staff, page 32. Gene Hashimoto Doi of Stone Mountain, Georgia, passed away November 3, 2011, remembered for her work as Deputy Clerk for DeKalb County and her tireless volunteering. She was honored in 2008 by the JACL Southeast Chapter for her role in securing Georgia’s swing vote for Redress legislation, and was interned at Manzanar as a teenager.
• May Hideko Tanimura, by May Tanimura, page 32. This self-written obituary by May Hideko Tanimura, written two months before her death, details her family history as the sixth of nine children born to Genta and Takeyo Yamamoto. She requests no funeral and asks loved ones to simply say ‘Happy New Year, May!’ on her January 1st birthday.

National

• Army Rules After Rioting, by P.C. Staff, page 46. This December 1942 article reports on the Manzanar Riot where military police fired on a crowd of demonstrators, killing one man and injuring ten others amid tensions between pro-American and pro-Axis factions. The piece details the beating of citizen leader Fred Tayama and subsequent martial law imposed at the camp.
• Minidoka Dedicated as U.S. Historic Place, by P.C. Staff, page 81. This article covers the 1979 dedication ceremony of Minidoka Relocation Center as a National Historic Place, featuring addresses from Senator Frank Church and Denver Post editor Bill Hosokawa. Hosokawa questioned why internees cooperated with their incarceration despite knowing it was wrong.
• Manager Harry Black Lauds Americanism of Merced Center, by P.C. Staff, page 83. This 1942 article reports on Merced Center Manager Harry Black’s remarks at a Town Hall Forum, praising the loyalty and Americanism of the 1,000 residents gathered to discuss their attitude toward evacuation. Black encouraged residents to maintain confidence through difficult times.

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