Internment camp project worthwhile

The internment and incarceration of Japanese-Americans and others during World War II on the mainland is well documented, but similar practices in Hawaii comprise a story that’s less familiar among even kamaaina Hawaii residents.

The move by the National Park Service to add the Honouliuli Gulch site of Oahu’s internment camps to the national park system deserves public support. This proposal offers what may be the last and best opportunity to preserve this particular piece of history.

The park service has issued a new study on the project, encompassing a review of 17 sites associated with internment of Hawaii residents. The agency is taking public comments through July 15 (see box). More than 2,000 residents of Japanese and European ancestry living in Hawaii were incarcerated during wartime.

Honouliuli is now a weed-choked expanse of land between Waipahu and Ewa, but it had been the longest-operating World War II Japanese-American internment and prisoner-of-war camp in Hawaii, according to the study. It lies in the midst of an explosive expansion of development bordering what is known as Oahu’s "second city," and any land in that region likely won’t lie fallow for long.

Of the 17 sites under study, Honouliuli and the U.S. Immigration Station on Ala Moana Boulevard were deemed "nationally significant for their central role as internment sites in Hawaii during World War II," according to the study. The other 15 sites employed in internment were used for shorter periods, interned fewer people or have been substantially changed, so they don’t meet the NPS criteria for park status.

The other sites included facilities of Honolulu’s civilian and military police, Kilauea Military Camp, Wai-akea Prison, the Hilo Independent Japanese Language school, Haiku Camp, Maui County Jail, Kaunakakai Jail, Lanai City Jail, Kalaheo Stockade, Waimea Jail, Waialua Jail, Lihue Plantation Gymnasium and Kauai County Courthouse.

The immigration station is not considered feasible for inclusion because it is being used by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security and the state Department of Health, according to the study.

Honouliuli camp accommodated 320 internees and nearly 4,000 POWs from Korea, Okinawa, Taiwan, Japan, and Italy. It closed in 1945 for civilian internees and may have been used into 1946 for prisoners, according to the study.

Part of what makes preserving Honouliuli feasible, in the NPS proposal, is availability: Monsanto Hawaii executives have said the company plans to donate the land for the Honouliuli center.

"Through it, we are able to more fully understand the abrogation of civil liberties that occurred in the U.S. and its territories," according to the report.

The experience left an indelible mark on the more than 2,000 residents of Japanese and European ancestry living in Hawaii who were incarcerated. But the rest of the U.S., and Hawaii in particular, could use a permanent memorial to serve as a lasting reminder.