In the barracks, bathrooms, showers and bedrooms were "unpartitioned," with living quarters lacking plumbing and water. The black-and-white photos showed off the barracks-like structures that made up Jerome and the other relocation centers and which resembled prisoner of war camps.Īccording to a description in "Infamy" from the California Site Survey of the National Park Service, camps like Jerome "were completely unsuited for family living." "This is what Jerome looked look like back in the day," Yasamura said.
Inside were photos taken at Rohwer and Jerome 80 years ago, plus some taken when Yasamura first returned to Arkansas in 1984 with his family in search of the campsite.Īn older brother of Yasamura had managed to smuggle a camera into the camp. While Takei signed copies of his graphic novel "They Called Us Enemy," Yasamura pulled a small binder out of his backpack.
Just a few feet to his right was the most famous survivor of the Arkansas internment camps, "Star Trek" actor George Takei. "What I'm more interested in doing is sharing our stories with the younger people," said Yasamura, who earlier had spoken with a group of McGehee schoolchildren.Īs he talked, Yasamura sat in a chair underneath the depot's roof amid a swirl of activity and noise. Yasamura, then only 5 years old, and eight members of his family were among those forced to leave their home in Lomita, Calif., and held at the Arkansas camps.įor Yasamura, now in his mid-80s and living in Sacramento, Thursday was his third time back to Arkansas.Įighty years after his family's imprisonment, what draws Yasamura back to McGehee? Camp Jerome, at its peak, had a population of 8,497. Two of the camps - the last to open - were located in Rohwer, a community located northeast of McGehee, and Jerome, Arkansas.Īccording to Richard Reeves' "Infamy," published in 2015, at their peak the relocation facilities held 120,313 Japanese Americans. 19, 1942, two months after Japan's surprise attack on Pearl Harbor in Hawaii, President Franklin Delano Roosevelt signed the order, which resulted in the forced evacuation and imprisonment of more than 120,000 Japanese and Japanese American citizens to 10 "relocation centers" across the country. Its purpose: documenting the result of Executive Order 9066. The ceremony commemorated the 10th anniversary of the opening of the Japanese American Internment Museum. On Thursday, Yasamura and roughly 200 other Japanese Americans rode three chartered buses to attend a ceremony held outside McGehee's old train depot. McGEHEE - Hachi Yasamura's shirt is simple, concise and loaded with history.Īgainst a distorted background of red numbers and letters that resemble computer code, white lettering reads: "Executive Order 9066" and "02.19.42."
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