Manzanar Internment Camp

Manzanar was the location of a WWII Japanese internment camp. It was a powerful experience. It took 2 1/2 hours through the eastern California desert to get there, and temperatures were at 113 degrees with a strong wind. There is a museum in the old gymnasium and the park service had a great film that explained the history and life in the camp. There is also a driving tour around the grounds of the camp, where they had a few barracks set up. There were approximately 10,000 people housed in one square mile. Eight people housed in each 20 x 25 room. Things I learned that I didn’t know before: two people were killed by guards at Manzanar during a protest. A boy was shot while collecting fire wood outside the fence, he survived. People were give a stipend but had to but their own meals in the mess hall. After Executive Order 9022 was issued, no person of Japanese decent could live in any of the three pacific coast states. In 1943, people were allowed to leave the internment camps but had to move east, they could not return to their homes. They were given $25.00 and a one-way bus ticket. The US encouraged other pacific coast countries to also intern their Japanese populations. Canada had camps and Peru who had the largest population of Japanese actually sent them to the US for internment. After the war, Peru wouldn’t take them back, and the US would allow them citizenship. They were in limbo. What struck me most was there was no huge Park Service sign on Rt 395, which is the major road running past the Camp. There was a tiny sign on the frontage road that couldn’t be seen from the major road. If Saara (GPS) hadn’t been on we would have missed it. There were more people at the UFO Museum in Roswell than Manzanar. Then I came back to hotel to watch CNN showing detention centers on the boarder, and talking about a round-up on Sunday. Why can’t we learn from history?

Wildlife:
1 lizard
1 rabbit

0 Roadkill

Manzanar is free so
Gree’s senior park pass savings to date holding at $ 340+