Interlude: Camp Amache

It was already a long day, and it was well past mid- afternoon. Starting in Colorado, we had passed through Wyoming, Nebraska, more of Colorado, Kansas, and now found ourselves East of Lamar, Colorado, working toward our utlimate destination of Clayton, New Mexico. A sign appears on the left: Camp Amache... what's that? Sounds like Apache or something. But just a glimpse of the second, smaller sign causes a U-turn. "Japanese Internment Camp." Now this is worth a visit no matter how far we've come or how far we have to go.

Since the first time I saw The Karate Kid I have had an interest in the injustice that our country imposed on the Japanese-Americans after Pearl Harbor. We took away the rights of citizens of Japanese descent (even if they were several generations in our country) and relocated them to desolate internment camps all over the Western U.S. Mr. Miyagi, the mentor of the Karate Kid, was a fictional citizen who had been victimized by this outrageous policy. After losing his wife and child to illness, he joined the 442nd Regimental Combat Team and subsequently was awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor. Great fictional story.

Another great piece of fiction is the book Snow Falling on Cedars by David Guterson, which prompts more heartbreak and more anger and indignation at this travesty.

Now here we were on the sacred ground of what once was the 10th largest city in Colorado, thanks to the concentration of Americans of Japanese descent. The 60 year old trees in the perfect rows next to the foundations was so striking. It was barren, but they planted trees not knowing how long they might reside there... forever? The war did drag on for more than three years after their arrival. There were schools, even a senior high school. Mess halls which I now understand were a grave threat to their family order (which had the father as the regal figure at his own family table). Several churches were then, Catholic, Protestant, and a Buddhist temple. And a graveyard, with a monument to the 442nd Regimental Combat Team. What was that? The only way to get out of an internment camp... enlist in the special unit composed of men of Japanese descent. They were one of the greatest fighting regiments in the history of the U.S. Army, if not the greatest.

The 442nd.

Included in their ranks was this man from Camp Amache: Kiyoshi Muranaga.

One more heart-rending moment came when we saw the grave marker you see in the picture above. Matsuda Baby, Christmas day.

Filled with pride in these extraordinary Americans, we drove on to Boise City, OK and then to Clayton, NM, our stop for the night.