On a cool, rainy day, the colorful chains of paper cranes at the Bainbridge Island Japanese American Exclusion Memorial hang in stark contrast to the gray clouds and the old growth cedar, granite and basalt memorial wall bearing the names of the 227 Japanese-Americans that were ordered off Bainbridge Island and into internment camps as part of Executive Order 9066. They were the first of 120,000 Japanese-Americans living in the west coast that were forced into interment camps. Bainbridge Island is a short ferry ride across Puget Sound from Seattle.
At this site on March 30, 1942, with just six days notice, the entire Japanese-American population of flanked by soldiers with bayonets on their rifles, filed onto the ferry Kehloken. Left behind were homes, farms and businesses. Their belongings were limited to the clothes they could wear or carry in a single suitcase.
At the end of the war about 150 residents returned to the island. Some were lucky enough to regain their farms and homes due to the kindness of local caretakers. Others had lost all that they had built.
The National Parks Historical Site is a unit of the Minidoka National Historic Site in Idaho, one of several interment camps. It opened to the public in July of 2011. The wall was designed by Johnpaul Jones, a local Native American architect. It contains the names and ages of all 227 forced off the island as well as friezes depicting some of the scenes from that morning.
The site is dedicated to those who suffered and those who supported and stood by the Nissei forced off the island and to the ideal of safeguarding our constitutional rights for all. Nidoto Nai Yoni - "Let it not happen again."
Thank you for sharing. It is a lovely tribute. Best, T
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