Last week Senator Daniel Inouye introduced a bill to have the Secretary of the Interior conduct a study to determine if internment camp sites in Hawaii are eligible to be listed as historic sites under the National Park System.
Senator Inouye said, “During World War II, over 1,000 Japanese Americans were incarcerated in at least eight locations on Hawaii. In a report completed in 2007, the Japanese Cultural Center of Hawaii documented these sites that include Honouliuli Gulch, Sand Island, and the U.S. Immigration Station on Oahu, the Kilauea Military Camp on the Big Island, Haiku Camp and Wailuku County Jail on Maui, and the Kalaheo Stockade and Waialua County Jail on Kauai. These camps also held approximately 100 local residents of German and Italian ancestry.”
(Austrian citizens were also interned. Among them was Alfred Preis, architect of the U.S.S. Arizona Memorial.)
The Senator continued, “Those detained included the leaders of the Japanese immigrant community in Hawaii, (To see a list drawn up by George Patton of Japanese community leaders who should be picked up in the event of an attack, please read the February 23, 2009 column of Women of World War II) many of whom were taken from their homes and families in the hours after the attack on Pearl Harbor. The forced removal of these individuals began a nearly four-year odyssey to a series of camps in Hawaii and on the continental United States. Over 1,000 immediate family members of these men joined their husbands, fathers and relatives in mainland camps. The detainees were never formally charged and granted only token hearings. Many of the detainees’ sons served with distinction in the U.S armed forces, including the legendary 100th Battalion, 442nd Regimental Combat Team and Military Intelligence Service.”
And let’s not forget the Nisei women who served in the Army, OSS and Military Intelligence Service. (To read about the women who served, please read Women of World War II Hawaii columns of March 14, 24, 30, and April 6, 2009.)
During the war, there was a Hawaii Defense Act, Order No. 5. It stated that “all aliens were forbidden from possessing weapons, firearms, explosives short-wave radio receiving sets, transmitting sets, cameras, or maps of any United States military or naval installation. They could not travel by air, change residence or occupation or move without written permission from the provost marshal.
Within one week of the attack on Pearl Harbor, the FBI detained 370 Japanese, 98 German and 14 Italians. Almost all of the Japanese detainees were men; of the European detainees many were women. During the course of the war, 1441 persons of Japanese ancestry were picked up for internment. This was .9% of the 160,000 living in Hawaii.
While most of the internees were residents of Oahu, there were aliens detained on the Neighbor Islands. On Kauai internees were crowded into the county jail. According to Gwen Allen (Hawaii War Years), the December 12, 1941 issue of the Kauai newspaper reported that “the men are building double decker bunks.” On the Big Island, aliens were interned at Kilauea Military Camp, near Hilo.
Restrictions on the Neighbor Islands were a bit different. On Kauai, after two days of war, a newspaper announcement invited families to call on detainees any day between 1 p.m. and 3 p.m. and they were allowed to take clean laundry and simple Japanese food. The detainees had already been provided with cards and games.
On the Big Island, there was no public visiting until February 14, 1942. On Maui, each detainee was given a questionnaire asking if they had any animals that needed feeding and other care, and if so, where can we find them. It continued to ask, “If you have a dog, what is its name? Did you lock up your house before being taken here? Would you care to have us contact any of your friends with the idea of having them watch over your children or your property, or anything else you might deem valuable? Please suggest anything that we might do to help you, either here or outside.”
This is a very different approach from the one taken on Oahu. In the next few columns I’ll tell the story of Gertrude Schroeder, a 17 year old University of Hawaii student who lived with the Sisters of the Sacred Hearts in Kaimuki when she was arrested. (Gertrude Schroeder is now Sr. Gertrude Marie Schroeder and lives in the retirement home for the Sisters of the Sacred Hearts in Kaimuki.) It took the sisters over six weeks to determine where Gertrude was being held. There will be the story of Joe Pacific’s daughter, a young teen, who was left home alone after both her parents were taken to Fort Armstrong. (Some older readers may remember Joe Pacific as “The Shoe Man” with a shop downtown.) There will be the story of the Kuehn family of Kailua, whose son was left with a family in St. Anthony’s Parish. (Otto Kuehn was the only alien convicted of treason in Hawaii. He was a German national convicted of spying for the Japanese. More on his family, later.)
For some Oahu internees, they began their detention at the Immigration Station at Fort Armstrong and were then moved to Sand Island. In Okage Sama De (page 132) it is noted that internees at Sand Island lived in tents until wooden barracks were built. “Until books and other materials were allowed, the internees passed the time by smoothing sea shells for necklaces by rolling them on the concrete floors.”
It should be noted that the European and Japanese internees were segregated. The first POW of the war (Ensign Kazuo Sakamaki, of the captured Japanese submarine that beached at Waimanalo) was also interned at Sand Island.
In March 1942 Sand Island closed. Some detainees were sent to Honouliuli Internment camp. Honouliuli camp was on the intersection of Farrington Highway and Old Fort Weaver Road just east of Waipahu. (If you’d like further information as to location and access, check with the Japanese Cultural Center.)
As much of the World War II experience in Hawaii is unique, so too, the internment stories are unique. In the next several columns, I will share stories of both European and Japanese internees, and of the reactions and actions of the residents of Hawaii.
My thanks to all the women who shared their stories.
Photos: National Park Services. Resources: Gwen Allen’s HAWAII WAR YEARS, Dorothy Hazama’s OKAGE SAMA DE
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