Comments on: The internment camp in West Oʻahu’s backyard

By: mel domingo

mel domingo — Sun, 22 Jan 2012 22:46:07 +0000

according to the article “Digging for the Truth”, (Go West, Winter 2012), the camp had also held Filipino prisoners.
Who were these Filipinos?? What were their names?? Were they classified by the U. S. as “national” aliens at that time??
The Philippines were compromised with nominal independence from the U. S. in 1946.
Where are the records of these Filipino prisoners kept??

By: Lisa Shimabukuro

Lisa Shimabukuro — Tue, 29 Nov 2011 20:34:20 +0000

Thank you so much for sharing your article. My grandfather was interned here; and since he passed I’m unable to hear his story. However, this past summer my mother and uncles told me about the research. I would love to hear more as information is surfaced. Thank you.

By: David Ritter

David Ritter — Thu, 17 Nov 2011 19:15:58 +0000

Very interesting work, wonderful article! Have you published any of your findings yet in an academic journal?

By: Don Kawashima

Don Kawashima — Sat, 05 Nov 2011 04:47:39 +0000

I am a docent at the Japanese American
Museum in San Jose, Ca. Reading this article was very interesting and would like more information as it becomes available. We get quite a lot of inquiries about he Hawaiian camps so getting more information would be very helpful.
My family was in the camps on the mainland and experienced various hardships during that period, but we managed to recover from living in those times and have lived successful lives since.

By: Cheryl Ernst

Cheryl Ernst — Fri, 04 Nov 2011 17:20:43 +0000

Archaeologist Mary Farrell responds:

Ms Chambers makes several excellent points that do apply to the Honouliuli internment camp. The climate has indeed contributed to the deterioration of the site–most of the features we are discovering in the archaeological survey are of concrete. The small barracks, large mess halls, and most other structures visible in the historic photos were bulldozed after the war, preventing their reuse by squatters or anyone else.

For some reason, the two buildings still present on the site were not bulldozed. The structure with the collapsing roof shown in two of the “current” photos in the article was an administration building during the internment camp. It and an adjacent building were reused after the camp closed, reportedly by people raising chickens and fighting cocks. Their occupation and maintenance of those 2 buildings probably kept them standing longer than they would have, otherwise. A rancher leased other parts of the site from the land owner for his cattle operation, and the Honolulu Board of Water Supply used an area where one of the mess halls stood to construct a modern building.

The post-internment-camp occupants altered the structures and landscape of the site to fit their needs, so it isn’t surprising that we’d find new roofing material and other post-WWII artifacts and features. The history of a site can be obscured by modern developments as well as by vegetation, erosion, and deterioration, so archaeologists often have to look at numerous clues to figure out what’s going on at a site. But that’s what makes it interesting!

By: Bettyann Chambers

Bettyann Chambers — Fri, 04 Nov 2011 03:43:46 +0000

Very interesting pictures. Having lived on the main Island and a University of Hawaii grad (1970) I am familar with the climate and its deleterious effects on wood, metal and plastics (roof in photo). I do not doubt there were interment camps but I do not believe these photos represent any remains of them. As open as Hawaii is/was squaters most likely lived in the shanties you showed in the first photo, and that, probably within the last 20 years. Pink and green plastic roofing is a relic of the present. Exploring the past and uncovering hidden artifacts is exciting but implying that these remains are over 65 years old is a bit of a stretch and disingenuous.

By: Russell Estlack

Russell Estlack — Tue, 01 Nov 2011 18:54:08 +0000

Thank you for writing this article. The true story of internment of American citizens in Hawaii is long overdue.

I am the author of “Shattered Lives, Shattered Dreams, a recently released book on the internment and its aftermath. I have included a chapter on the internment camps in Hawaii and a story by Doris Nye whose parents and sister were interned at Honoluilui.

In my book I show how the United States Government violated the precepts of the Constitution in the name of national security and how these event5s of World War II have impacted the political climate in America today.

The book is available at Barnes & Noble, Amazon, and online outlets.

By: Archaeological News from Archaeology Magazine - News for November 1, 2011

Archaeological News from Archaeology Magazine - News for November 1, 2011 — Tue, 01 Nov 2011 16:53:46 +0000

[...] of Hawai’i archaeologists are investigating the Honouliuli Camp, where more than 3,000 prisoners of war and American citizens of various ethnic backgrounds were [...]