JBER hosts ceremony honoring families of those interned at recently discovered camp

  • Published
  • By Airman 1st Class Kyle Johnson
  • JBER Public Affairs
JOINT BASE ELMENDORF-RICHARDSON, Alaska --  Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson, Alaska hosted a Day of Remembrance ceremony Feb. 19, honoring the men, women and children of Japanese descent who were interned in camps during World War II.

Internment camps were locations where individuals suspected to be sympathizers to an enemy power were detained during times of war. After the U.S. declared war on the Axis powers, thousands of German, Italian, and Japanese people were arrested and interned, suspected of being a threat to national security.

One such camp was recently found on JBER-Richardson, and JBER hosted a ceremony at the site honoring those held in the camps.

"Every part of our history is important, I think," said Phyllys Callina, an archaeologist with Jacobs Engineering Group Inc. "We either remember it to repeat it, if it's good, or not repeat it if it's not so good. We also need to understand the context of where we live today. The more we can understand the people around us, the more empathy and compassion we can have for them and the better we can work together."

Background

"They were arrested under the Enemy Alien Act," said Dr. Morgan Blanchard, a senior project archaeologist with Northern Land Use Research Alaska, LLC. "That [act] said if we go to war with a foreign power, the government has the power to interview people and decide whether or not they are a threat to national security. If they are, then they are arrested and interned.

"The difference was, Japanese were prohibited from becoming American citizens until the 1950s. So everybody born in Japan, at the start of the war, was - by definition - an alien enemy."

Because of this, the majority of individuals interned at this time were Japanese foreign nationals.

"They interviewed Germans and Italians and let most of them go, but arrested virtually all of the Japanese," Blanchard said. There were Americans in these communities who were upset; they felt these people would be Americans if they could be."

Discovery

"It was a total accident, really," Blanchard said. "I was working on another project next door to the camp and as part of the survey, I was looking to see what was in the area. I found a map in a report by (Lt. Col.) James D. Bush in 1944. It was a narrative report of Alaska construction during the war. It has information on everything the Army built throughout the war.

"The maps are great because it gives you a sense of what was there. One of the maps said 'internment camp, see insert'."

Blanchard began researching aerial photos from different time periods and was able to verify the location of an internment camp during that time period. He then took the old aerial images and georectified them - a process involving lining up photos from different time periods to see change - with the initial map he found in the old construction report, Blanchard said.

"We took it to Jon Scudder over at the 673d Wing and they immediately said they thought it was interesting and suggested we do something about it. I thought that was fantastic; everybody I've spoken to in the service has been really great about it."

JBER reached out to Jacobs Engineering, with whom they have an ongoing business relationship, and Jacobs subcontracted Blanchard to do a full study on the camp.

"The goals of this research were threefold; to establish a historic context for the site, write a history of the Fort Richardson Internment Camp, and to identify the persons interned there during World War II," said Jon Scudder, 673d Civil Engineer Squadron cultural resource manager and native liaison.

Blanchard began trying to identify all the individuals held at the FRIC, but filing a Freedom of Information Act information request was difficult, as it is nearly impossible to request information about somebody without knowing who they are.

"The first thing I did is I went and talked to everybody I knew who was interested in the history of Japanese in Alaska," Blanchard said.

Fortunately, there were some people who had already been able to secure some names with a FOIA request at the Empty Chair Project, an organization honoring the interned Japanese community from that time period, Blanchard said.

The names they provided him kick-started his research and opened the doors for him to begin identifying the individuals interned, Blanchard said.

"We took that list and ran it through all the 1940s census records, which told us who they were, what they did, and whether they had families or not," Blanchard said.

Through the census and other historical research - like their enemy alien cards - Blanchard was able to identify 16 of the 17 individuals held at FRIC as well as when they were arrested and what camps they went to, he said.

As part of the study, Blanchard, Callina, and students and a professor from the University of Alaska, Anchorage performed an archaeological survey of the area in an attempt to find artifacts from the internment camp.

"The survey was important, because no matter how much background information we have like maps or even old reports, we still need to go to the site and find out what's there today," Callina said. "Are there any material objects we can actually attribute to this site to backup and substantiate those historical accounts? It also helps in determining whether or not that is a historical site that warrants any protection considerations."

From the survey, they found 116 artifacts, many of which were consistent with the research they had done up to that point, but due to their generic nature, couldn't be identified without doubt to have been part of the internment camp, Blanchard said.

While conducting his research, Blanchard learned the daughters of John Tanaka, a Japanese Juneau resident who was arrested and held at an internment camp, would be in town, so he reached out to them to see if they'd be interested in visiting the site.

More people became involved as the project grew, and the process led to a ceremony honoring those taken and their families - with Tanaka's daughters, Alice Hikido and Mary Abo, as well as Patrick Regan, the grandson of an internee - as guest speakers, Blanchard said.

After being released from his internment camp, Tanaka volunteered to serve in the 442nd Regimental Combat Team, and though he never saw combat, did leave for Europe with the unit, Blanchard said.

Soon, the report will be sent to the state historic preservation officer, who will review the report and decide whether the site is of historical significance or not.

"We could potentially find the site to be eligible under a couple of categories," Callina said. "If they determine it is historically significant, we will work with them further on whatever mitigation measures they think are appropriate."

Mitigation measures can range from further historic reports and educational components such as information for schools, to an interpretive panel or further historical research, Callina said.

JBER is currently interested in the possibility of establishing a memorial at the site of the internment camp in honor of the individuals held and the impact to their families, but no concrete plans have been established as yet.