An American Tragedy

What follows is a story that I have wanted to tell ever since my wife and I visited a lonely and deserted patch of scrub land in eastern Colorado last June.  There are many videos and printed accounts of this black mark on American History, but unless you are able to see what remains of Camp Amache, you cannot appreciate what a tragic and horrible place it was.

On February 19, 1942, two-and-one-half months after the Japanese attack at Pearl Harbor, President Franklin Roosevelt signed Executive Order 9066, which called for the rounding up, relocation and internment of all people of Japanese ancestry on the West Coast of the United States.  It didn't matter that two-thirds of those people were native born United States citizens. 

In all, 126,000 people were forced to pack whatever would fit into two suitcases and either sell or abandon everything else.  That included houses, cars, businesses, pets, toys and clothing, which were sold for pennies on the dollar, or just left up for grabs.

The people were put on trains or busses with armed guards and shades drawn, and were transported to relocation camps throughout the western states.  Most of the camps were in very remote locations, far from any population centers or cities.  They were built in less than three months and some weren't even completed when the detainees arrived for what would be a three year stay in what was essentially a prison with barbed wire fences, watchtowers and armed guards.

Camp Amache was one of ten such prisons.  Located near the small rural town of Granada, Colorado, it was one square mile in size and housed 7,500 people -- twice the population density of New York City at that time.  It was a self-contained town, with schools, hospitals,  police and fire departments, a post office, stores, churches and its own cemetery.  To say that living conditions in the camp were harsh is an understatement. 

Initially, the men of Camp Amache, who would have volunteered to fight in the war, were not allowed to enlist.  Only after repeated complaints from the Caucasian American draftees in the military services about the able-bodied people in the camps not having to fight and die were the rules changed, allowing both males and females to enlist, and eventually forcing others, who protested serving while their families were interned, into service via the draft.

The men of Camp Amache served with distinction in the highly decorated 442nd Regimental Combat Team in the European Theater, while females served in the Women's Army Corps and the Nurses Army Corps.  Amache soldiers received 38 combat pins and badges and various other medals.  One, George T. "Joe" Sakato, received the Distinguished Service Cross and the Congressional Medal of Honor.  31 men died while fighting in the war, while 120 people died in the camp itself during the three year term and are buried in the camp cemetery.

Another injustice of the War Relocation Authority Agency established by Roosevelt's executive order was the fact that only 11,000 people of German ancestry and 250 of Italian ancestry were interned during the war, though they outnumbered the Japanese-Americans by a large factor.  Their camps were not as isolated, nor were they as harsh and restrictive as the Japanese camps.

I could go on, but there is plenty of information available on the Internet.  Just Google Camp Amache and take your pick of articles or videos if you care to explore further.  This particular video is short and informative for those who don't have time or don't want to learn more about those dark days in our history.

I have attached a few pictures that I took while we were driving through the site of Camp Amache that might give you an idea of what it looks like today.  Of course, only two of the original structures are still there, but the pads where the others were still remain as ghosts of the past.

The original layout of the camp. (To enlarge the print for reading, depress and hold the ctrl key and then either use your mouse scroll or keep pressing the + key.  To return to normal font, reverse the mouse scroll or depress the 0 key)

Pads are the only remnants of the huge camp today.

A monument is in the camp cemetery to the fallen heroes and their kin who died while held at Camp Amache.

A second Medal of Honor recipient received his posthumously.

If you are ever driving on Highway 50 near Granada, Colorado, you might want to take an hour or so and drive through Camp Amache.  Look for a small sign along the highway about one mile west of the town on the south side of the road.  The camp entrance is about 200 yards up that road, but it is not very well marked on the main highway and not visible from there at all.