U.S. Secretary of the Interior Sally Jewell heard Friday from an advisory committee that wants to preserve a Honouliuli site and the stories of hundreds of Japanese-Americans interned there during World War II who once called it Hell Valley.
The Honouliuli Park Site Advisory Committee met with Jewell at the Japanese Cultural Center of Hawaii and asked her what they can do to make sure the story of the internment camp is told to the broader public and future generations. The U.S. Department of the Interior manages America’s natural and cultural resources, including national parks.
After her visit to Honouliuli, Jewell met with the advisory group made up of representatives from Monsanto Hawaii, a seed company that owns the land; the National Park Service; the University of Hawaii-West Oahu; lawmakers; and community members.
"It’s a place where you can sense and see history that is an important story to be told," Jewell said after the meeting.
"The stories of conflict, the stories that helped shape people — Honouliuli is a great example of what happened here in Hawaii and across so much of our country when it relates to Japanese internment," she said.
"I think that when we have conflict we can react in ways that only look at the situation through one lens. What Honouliuli and other internment sites do is tell another side of the story," she said, adding that it’s vital that the stories are told so the public learns from those conflicts.
Honouliuli was added to the National Register of Historic Places in February 2012. A special resource study to include the site in the national parks system is under review by the National Park Service. A draft report is expected to be released in the spring for public input. The report will then be finalized and sent to Congress by the end of the year.
Monsanto Hawaii wants to donate the former internment site, which spans 160 acres, to the Park Service. Jewell said it’s too early to determine whether Honouliuli will be included in the national parks system. Because of the department’s significant budget cuts, she stressed partnerships and local support are key to preserving the site.
In 2006, U.S. Sens. Daniel Akaka and Daniel Inouye led the efforts to establish the Japanese American Confinement Site Grants program, authorizing $38 million for the preservation of internment camps across the country.
Volunteers have held tours at Honouliuli for students and the public so they can gain insight of what life was like for internees.
During the meeting, volunteer Betsy Young said, "They have learned about humanity, racial relationships and the challenges of balancing civil rights with national security. All of this is so relevant to us today."
Internees referred to Honouliuli as Jigoku Tani, or Hell Valley, because of the sweltering heat and swarms of mosquitoes, Young said. According to the cultural center, the site opened March 1, 1943, and was the largest and longest-running internment camp of the five in the islands.
Buildings were bulldozed after the site closed in late 1945, but remnants of Honouliuli remain.
Young shared a story of a woman who recalled visiting her uncle at Honouliuli when she was a child. She remembered boarding a camouflage bus in front of the King Kamehameha V statue on King Street.
At some point during the commute, the bus pulled to the side of the road, where passengers were blindfolded. They remained blindfolded until they reached Honouliuli. The process was repeated when they returned to town.
Because former internees rarely spoke of their time spent confined at the gulch, the woman wondered whether those visits were a dream until a recent visit to Honouliuli. Young said there are people like the recent visitor whose real-life experiences are not in history books.
Carole Hayashino, president and executive director of the Japanese Cultural Center of Hawaii, said while people are familiar with former internment sites on the mainland such as Manzanar, Tule Lake and Minidoka, many are not familiar with the internment sites in Hawaii.
The advisory group continues to work to preserve Honouliuli and personal stories "to make sure the untold story of Japanese- Americans during WWII in Hawaii is not forgotten," she said.
