After leaving the scenic rock area and the movie trail we headed to Manzanar War Relocation Camp, a polite term for a domestic concentration camp. Manzanar was one of many such camps in the west and southwest where Japanese American citizens as well as Japanese citizens living in the U.S. were interned during the war. Another such camp in Crystal City Tx contained 'enemy' aliens of Japanese, German, and Italian origin along with their American spouses and children. None of the camps were vacation spots by any stretch of the imagination.
The oral histories left by residents of Manzanar tell of the incessant wind, heat in the summer and chilling cold in the winter, and the fine dust, as fine as flour, that got into everything and coated everyone and everything with a tan layer of dust.
Our visit to Manzanar was particularly interesting due to having a friend who as in the camp as a small child along with his family.
There is a very interesting museum in the former gym and community building where a moving and informative film plays several times a day. Will a time come again in this country where our government will feel compelled to imprison large numbers of citizens for no legitimate reason?
The weather had been sunny but cool until Manzanar and then turned overcast and somber during our visit there, appropriate for the camp and the stories to be learned there.
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| Outside of the camp perimeter on highway 395. A guard tower stands watch over the camp. |
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| Bundu Trek co-driver reads the story of Manzanar |
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| The gate guard huts at the original entrance to the camp. |
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| One of several re-created barracks used to tell the story of the camp and its residents. the concrete pads mark the sites of buildings once more permanent than the wood barracks |
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| The mueum is in the large white building, formerly the community center and gym |
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| The residents built a pleasure park with flowing water and many green plants and trees. When the camp closed the plants died and the water courses filled with blowing sand. In 2008 the children and grandchildren of the camp residents located and excavated the remains of the park |
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| The trekkers explore the remains of the pleasure park |
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| Looking towards the camp reservoir built by the camp residents in 1943. They left their names and initials in the wet concrete, which may still be seen today |
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| the camp cemetery where 5 who died at the camp are buried. Others were removed when the camp closed. |
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| Some of the memorials left for the dead. The first to die at the camp were the single elderly men. They had no family or friends to give them a reason to live. |
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| There is still a whole lot of nothing all around the camp. |
