Manzanar War Relocation Center | California

Japanese people started to immigrate to the United States back as far as 1882 because they felt they could make a better living.  They became citizens and started businesses, not knowing what was in store for them and their descendents in a few decades. 

When World War II started, the government decided that Japanese citizens (and, of course, all who were not citizens) should be gathered together for the safety of the rest of the country.  The facility on Route 395 in California was named Manzanar.  The Japanese citizens were taken by bus to one of the 10 "relocation centers" that had been built specifically for this purpose.  They were allowed to take only what they could carry.  The ones who had businesses tried to sell them, but many were abandoned. 

They were told that the government was protecting them - but the guards organizing the bus transportation had guns with bayonets.  When they got to Manzanar, it was enclosed with barbed wire with a guard tower.

 

There were rows of barracks for them to inhabit, their beds were bags filled with straw.  There were 36 blocks of barracks that held the 10,000 people who resided at Manzanar.  There were too many people to have any privacy.  Windstorms made life difficult, as well as sweltering sun in the desert in the summer.  The photo above shows how close the barracks were.

 

There were multiple in the rooms, some hung cloth up to provide minimal privacy.

 

Bathrooms were built with sinks as shown below, as well as toilets and a shower room.

 

 

Most of the buildings are gone now, with just concrete slabs marking the locations.  The Federal government had made an agreement to remove the buildings to restore the land.  The buildings were sold at $330 each, or were deconstructed.  Some of the buildings were moved to other towns to become motel rooms or private homes, in one instance.  Now there are only a few buildings.

 

There was school for the children.  A non-Japanese woman volunteered to come teach them since she thought the entire situation was wrong.

 

 

There was a mess hall and the staff put in long days to feed everyone, although the food was not that appetizing and not what they were used to. 

 

\

They had a ball field for games, as well as a band so they could have dances in the mess hall.  They made a rock garden with running water, a soothing place to sit and relax.  There was a fish pond, a farm and garden and a chicken ranch, as well as a hospital with staff.  I'm sure that some of the residents worked in those areas. 

There is a cemetery monument with a few graves and this memorial.

This is at the cemetery site - colorful folded paper, origami.

There was also a factory to produce woven camouflage nets for the Army.  There was some discontent among the workers, sparking a riot and soon the factory closed.  There was a mattress factory near the weaving shop, but unfortunately it burned in 1943.  By 1944, there were other goods produced there by the residents including clothing and furniture, as well as agriculture.  At that point, they were pretty much self-sufficient.  All those buildings are gone also.

At the end of the war, they were given $25 and a ticket.  From 1990 to 1999 the government sent an apology letter, along with $20,000 to the inhabitants of all of the 10 camps, 82,000 people. I don't remember any of this in my history classes, I wonder if anyone else remembers anything about this.



Fort Stanton | New Mexico

This was originally the Marine Hospital started in the late 1800s.  After the military moved out in the 1950s, it was turned into a tuberculosis facility.  Many of the physicians and nursing staff were also TB victims themselves.

This was the hospital administration barracks since the mid 1800s, it has now been restored and is the Visitor Center.  Apparently, this fort was one of the nicest, as evidenced by this porch and other areas..

A chapel was built in 1913, refurbished in 1940.

  

Officer's quarters in the late 1800s, then occupied by physicians in the TB era.

The commanding officers, and their families,  had apartments in this building, which were quite nice back then.  Later, it was repurposed for the physicians.

Entrance to one of the officers quarters' apartment.

Inside has not been refurbished, but the rooms are large.  The apartments were burned in an invasion of the Texas regiment, but rebuilt after the Civil War.

This building was built in the 1940s to house the nursing staff.

Inside you can see bottles that had contained medicines and other equipment.  Check out the beams in the ceiling.

Outside porch area.

This building started out with one story in 1855.  When it was repurposed for the TB hospital, a second story was added and arches put in for a porch.  The second story was called the "amusement" area, including movies a few times a week, a post office and phones.

Guard House for a while, then it became a hospital library, x-ray area and dental clinic.

Below are some of the houses and other types of buildings.

Officers quarters.

This long building was actually 4 houses that were operated by laundry ladies when the area was a fort.  In the late 1920s, it was modified into one building, and then served as homes for hospital staff.

At one time, this was a church, with tin ceilings.  I was told that they will be refurbishing this, with authentic ceilings.

Interestingly, I was told about the swastika carved on one of the storage buildings.  It was around back, and I never would have thought about looking back there.  Of course, back before WWII, it was a symbol of good luck.  I was also told that a college, New Mexico A & M, named their yearbooks Swastika until 1983, after starting them in 1907!  They kept the name that long to continue the tradition.

In 1939, a German cruise ship, SS Columbus, was caught up in an issue when Germany invaded Poland.  Passengers were taken off the ship and, in the end, the ship was scuttled at sea and the German staff was rescued and taken to Ellis Island.  Long story short, they ended up here in New Mexico, but not as POWs.  They were held as "distressed seamen".    They lived in a separate area in the fort and were joined in 1945 by some Japanese prisoners, shortly after the Pearl Harbor attack.  They actually had been residents of the U. S., but had loyalties to Japan.  They were deported to Japan later that year.

At that time, the area was heavily guarded until they were deported.  The photos in this section are from the area where the Germans lived, and helped with building these facilities.

The Germans were here for about 5 years, and built themselves a swimming pool!