Gila River War Relocation Center
Encyclopedia
The Gila River War Relocation Center was an internment camp built by the War Relocation Authority
War Relocation Authority
The War Relocation Authority was a United States government agency established to handle internment of Japanese-, German-, and Italian-Americans during World War II...

 (WRA) for internment of Japanese Americans
Japanese American internment
Japanese-American internment was the relocation and internment by the United States government in 1942 of approximately 110,000 Japanese Americans and Japanese who lived along the Pacific coast of the United States to camps called "War Relocation Camps," in the wake of Imperial Japan's attack on...

 during the Second World War. It was located about 30 miles (48.3 km) southeast of Phoenix
Phoenix, Arizona
Phoenix is the capital, and largest city, of the U.S. state of Arizona, as well as the sixth most populated city in the United States. Phoenix is home to 1,445,632 people according to the official 2010 U.S. Census Bureau data...

, Arizona
Arizona
Arizona ; is a state located in the southwestern region of the United States. It is also part of the western United States and the mountain west. The capital and largest city is Phoenix...

.

The relocation center was located on the Gila River Indian Reservation, near an irrigated agricultural center. It comprised two separate camps, named 'Canal' and 'Butte'. Construction began on May 1, 1942, over the strong objections of the reservation's American Indian
Native Americans in the United States
Native Americans in the United States are the indigenous peoples in North America within the boundaries of the present-day continental United States, parts of Alaska, and the island state of Hawaii. They are composed of numerous, distinct tribes, states, and ethnic groups, many of which survive as...

 government. The official opening took place less than two months later, on July 20. Canal Camp closed on September 28, 1945. Butte Camp was shut down on November 10, 1945 and the Gila River Internment Center was officially closed on November 16, 1945.

Gila River received internees from California
California
California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...

 (Fresno
Fresno, California
Fresno is a city in central California, United States, the county seat of Fresno County. As of the 2010 census, the city's population was 510,365, making it the fifth largest city in California, the largest inland city in California, and the 34th largest in the nation...

, Sacramento
Sacramento, California
Sacramento is the capital city of the U.S. state of California and the county seat of Sacramento County. It is located at the confluence of the Sacramento River and the American River in the northern portion of California's expansive Central Valley. With a population of 466,488 at the 2010 census,...

, and Los Angeles
Los Angeles, California
Los Angeles , with a population at the 2010 United States Census of 3,792,621, is the most populous city in California, USA and the second most populous in the United States, after New York City. It has an area of , and is located in Southern California...

). In addition, it took in 2,000 people from the Jerome War Relocation Center
Jerome War Relocation Center
The Jerome War Relocation Center was a Japanese American internment camp located in southeastern Arkansas near the town of Jerome. Open from October 1942 until June 1944, it was the last relocation camp to open and the first to close; at one point it contained as many as 8,497 inhabitants. After...

 in Arkansas
Arkansas
Arkansas is a state located in the southern region of the United States. Its name is an Algonquian name of the Quapaw Indians. Arkansas shares borders with six states , and its eastern border is largely defined by the Mississippi River...

 when that facility closed in 1944. It became Arizona's fourth-largest city, with a peak population of 13,348.

Some of the intended internees died en route to Gila River or shortly after arrival in the harsh desert environment. One of these was the mother of Iva Toguri
Iva Toguri D'Aquino
Iva Ikuko Toguri D'Aquino , was an American citizen who participated in English-language propaganda broadcast transmitted by Radio Tokyo to Allied soldiers in the South Pacific during World War II...

, the American woman of Japanese descent who was later condemned as "Tokyo Rose
Tokyo Rose
Tokyo Rose was a generic name given by Allied forces in the South Pacific during World War II to any of approximately a dozen English-speaking female broadcasters of Japanese propaganda. The intent of these broadcasts was to disrupt the morale of Allied forces listening to the broadcast...

" and convicted of treason due to perjured testimony.

Gila River was considered one of the least oppressive camps of its kind. It had only a single watchtower
Watchtower
A watchtower is a type of fortification used in many parts of the world. It differs from a regular tower in that its primary use is military, and from a turret in that it is usually a freestanding structure. Its main purpose is to provide a high, safe place from which a sentinel or guard may...

, and its fences were among the very few that lacked barbed wire
Barbed wire
Barbed wire, also known as barb wire , is a type of fencing wire constructed with sharp edges or points arranged at intervals along the strand. It is used to construct inexpensive fences and is used atop walls surrounding secured property...

. The administrators of the camps seemed to care for the evacuees, and allowed them access to the amenities of Phoenix, and recreation
Recreation
Recreation is an activity of leisure, leisure being discretionary time. The "need to do something for recreation" is an essential element of human biology and psychology. Recreational activities are often done for enjoyment, amusement, or pleasure and are considered to be "fun"...

al activities such as sport
Sport
A Sport is all forms of physical activity which, through casual or organised participation, aim to use, maintain or improve physical fitness and provide entertainment to participants. Sport may be competitive, where a winner or winners can be identified by objective means, and may require a degree...

s and art
Art
Art is the product or process of deliberately arranging items in a way that influences and affects one or more of the senses, emotions, and intellect....

s. Butte camp contained a 6,000-seat baseball field
Baseball field
A baseball field, also called a ball field or a baseball diamond, is the field upon which the game of baseball is played. The terms "baseball field" and "ball field" are also often used as synonyms for ballpark.-Specifications:...

, designed by Kenichi Zenimura
Kenichi Zenimura
Kenichi Zenimura was a Japanese baseball player and manager, known as "The Dean of the Diamond." After his death he has come to be recognized as "The Father of Japanese American Baseball"....

, a professional baseball player, and considered to be the best in the WRA system. Internees also built a theater for plays and films, built playground
Playground
A playground or play area is a place with a specific design for children be able to play there. It may be indoors but is typically outdoors...

s, and planted tree
Tree
A tree is a perennial woody plant. It is most often defined as a woody plant that has many secondary branches supported clear of the ground on a single main stem or trunk with clear apical dominance. A minimum height specification at maturity is cited by some authors, varying from 3 m to...

s. Gila River had a communal medical facility at Butte Hospital.

Canal Camp had 404 buildings with 232 barracks and 24 separate schoolhouses. Butte Camp contained 821 buildings with 627 residential barracks. These barracks were made of wood
Wood
Wood is a hard, fibrous tissue found in many trees. It has been used for hundreds of thousands of years for both fuel and as a construction material. It is an organic material, a natural composite of cellulose fibers embedded in a matrix of lignin which resists compression...

 and fireproof shingle
Roof shingle
Roof shingles are a roof covering consisting of individual overlapping elements. These elements are typically flat rectangular shapes laid in rows from the bottom edge of the roof up, with each successive higher row overlapping the joints in the row below...

s that blocked out the desert heat. Each barrack was made to house four single families in separate apartments. Unfortunately, the camp exceeded its capacity: it was designed for 10,000 residents, but held over 13,000. Because of this some families resorted to living in the mess hall or recreation buildings and used blankets as makeshift walls. Water shortages also plagued the camp, and poisonous rattlesnake
Rattlesnake
Rattlesnakes are a group of venomous snakes of the genera Crotalus and Sistrurus of the subfamily Crotalinae . There are 32 known species of rattlesnake, with between 65-70 subspecies, all native to the Americas, ranging from southern Alberta and southern British Columbia in Canada to Central...

s and scorpion
Scorpion
Scorpions are predatory arthropod animals of the order Scorpiones within the class Arachnida. They have eight legs and are easily recognized by the pair of grasping claws and the narrow, segmented tail, often carried in a characteristic forward curve over the back, ending with a venomous stinger...

s kept Butte Hospital extremely busy.

As the land for the camp sites is owned by the Gila River Indian Tribe and is considered sacred by them, public access to the sites is currently restricted. Although all the main structures are long gone, some artifacts such as the road grid, concrete slab foundations, manholes, cisterns, several rock alignments and dozens of small ponds remain today.

On December 21, 2006 President Bush signed H.R. 1492 into law guaranteeing $38,000,000 in federal money to restore the Gila River relocation center along with nine other former Japanese internment camps.

Notable Gila River internees

  • Harry K. Fukuhara
    Harry K. Fukuhara
    Colonel Harry Katsuji Fukuhara is a retired United States Army soldier who was inducted in the United States Military Intelligence Hall of Fame in 1988....

     (born 1920), inducted in the United States Military Intelligence Hall of Fame.
  • Dale Ishimoto
    Dale Ishimoto
    Dale Ishimoto was an American actor of Japanese descent. He was born in Delta, Colorado in 1923 and was raised in Guadalupe, California.-Military service:...

     (1923–2004), an American actor
  • Yuriko Kikuchi
    Yuriko (dancer)
    Yuriko Kikuchi , known to audiences by her stage name Yuriko, is an American dancer and choreographer. She is best known for her work with the Martha Graham Dance Company....

     (born 1920), an American dancer and choreographer.
  • Pat Morita
    Pat Morita
    Noriyuki "Pat" Morita was an American actor of Japanese descent who was well-known for playing the roles of Matsuo "Arnold" Takahashi on Happy Days and Mr. Miyagi in the The Karate Kid movie series, for which he was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor in 1984.-Early life:Pat...

     (1932–2005), an American actor known for playing the roles on the TV show Happy Days
    Happy Days
    Happy Days is an American television sitcom that originally aired from January 15, 1974, to September 24, 1984, on ABC. Created by Garry Marshall, the series presents an idealized vision of life in mid-1950s to mid-1960s America....

     and in the Karate Kid movies. Also interned at Tule Lake
    Tule Lake War Relocation Center
    Tule Lake Segregation Center National Monument was an internment camp in the northern California town of Newell near Tule Lake. It was used in the Japanese American internment during World War II. It was the largest and most controversial of the camps, and did not close until after the war, in...

    .
  • George I. Nakamura
    George I. Nakamura
    George Itsuo Nakamura was a Nisei and Japanese-American, a lieutenant in the United States Army during World War II, and recipient of the Bronze Star...

    , a lieutenant in the United States Army during World War II, and recipient of the Bronze Star.
  • Ken and Miye Ota
    Ken and Miye Ota
    Ken Ota and Miye Ota are a married couple known for teaching martial arts, ballroom dancing, and social graces at their “cultural school” located in Goleta, California.-Ken Ota:...

     (born 1923 and 1918 respectively), a married couple known for teaching martial arts, ballroom dancing, and social graces at their cultural school.
  • Kazuo Otani
    Kazuo Otani
    Kazuo Otani was a United States Army soldier and a recipient of the United States military's highest decoration—the Medal of Honor—for his actions in World War II.-Biography:...

     (1918–1944), a United States Army soldier and a recipient of the Medal of Honor
    Medal of Honor
    The Medal of Honor is the highest military decoration awarded by the United States government. It is bestowed by the President, in the name of Congress, upon members of the United States Armed Forces who distinguish themselves through "conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity at the risk of his or her...

    .
  • Reiko Sato
    Reiko Sato
    Reiko Sato was an American dancer and actress.Born in Los Angeles, California, Sato was interned at the Gila River War Relocation Center during World War II. Sato is best known for playing seamstress Helen Chao in the movie Flower Drum Song. After her death in 1981, she was cremated, and half...

     (1931–1981), an American dancer and actress.
  • Nao Takasugi
    Nao Takasugi
    Nao Takasugi was an American politician from California, a member of the Republican Party, and a survivor of the Japanese American internment camps.-Early life:...

     (1922–2009), an American politician.
  • Paul Terasaki
    Paul Terasaki
    Paul Ichiro Terasaki is a noted scientist in the field of human organ transplant technology and Professor Emeritus of Surgery at UCLA School of Medicine....

     (born 1929), organ transplant
    Organ transplant
    Organ transplantation is the moving of an organ from one body to another or from a donor site on the patient's own body, for the purpose of replacing the recipient's damaged or absent organ. The emerging field of regenerative medicine is allowing scientists and engineers to create organs to be...

     scientist and Professor Emeritus of Surgery
    Surgery
    Surgery is an ancient medical specialty that uses operative manual and instrumental techniques on a patient to investigate and/or treat a pathological condition such as disease or injury, or to help improve bodily function or appearance.An act of performing surgery may be called a surgical...

     at UCLA School of Medicine
  • Kenichi Zenimura
    Kenichi Zenimura
    Kenichi Zenimura was a Japanese baseball player and manager, known as "The Dean of the Diamond." After his death he has come to be recognized as "The Father of Japanese American Baseball"....

     (1900–1968), a baseball player and manager

See also

  • Japanese American Internment
    Japanese American internment
    Japanese-American internment was the relocation and internment by the United States government in 1942 of approximately 110,000 Japanese Americans and Japanese who lived along the Pacific coast of the United States to camps called "War Relocation Camps," in the wake of Imperial Japan's attack on...

  • War Relocation Authority
    War Relocation Authority
    The War Relocation Authority was a United States government agency established to handle internment of Japanese-, German-, and Italian-Americans during World War II...

  • World War II
    World War II
    World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...

  • Densho: The Japanese American Legacy Project
    Densho: The Japanese American Legacy Project
    ' is an award-winning nonprofit organization based in Seattle, Washington, which collects video oral histories and documents regarding Japanese American internment in the United States during World War II...


  • Other camps:
    • Granada War Relocation Center
      Granada War Relocation Center
      The Granada War Relocation Center was a Japanese American internment camp located in southeast Colorado about a mile west of the small farming community of Granada, south of US 50....

    • Heart Mountain War Relocation Center
      Heart Mountain War Relocation Center
      The Heart Mountain Relocation Center, named after nearby Heart Mountain, was one of ten internment camps used to incarcerate Japanese Americans excluded from the West Coast during World War II under the provisions of Executive Order 9066 signed by President Franklin D. Roosevelt...

    • Jerome War Relocation Center
      Jerome War Relocation Center
      The Jerome War Relocation Center was a Japanese American internment camp located in southeastern Arkansas near the town of Jerome. Open from October 1942 until June 1944, it was the last relocation camp to open and the first to close; at one point it contained as many as 8,497 inhabitants. After...

    • Manzanar National Historic Site
      Manzanar
      Manzanar is most widely known as the site of one of ten camps where over 110,000 Japanese Americans were imprisoned during World War II. Located at the foot of the Sierra Nevada in California's Owens Valley between the towns of Lone Pine to the south and Independence to the north, it is...

    • Minidoka National Historic Site
    • Poston War Relocation Center
      Poston War Relocation Center
      The Poston War Relocation Center, located in Yuma County of southwestern Arizona, was the largest of the ten American internment camps operated by the War Relocation Authority during World War II....

    • Rohwer War Relocation Center
      Rohwer War Relocation Center
      The Rohwer War Relocation Center was a World War II Japanese American internment camp located in rural southeastern Arkansas, in Desha County. It was in operation from September 18, 1942 until November 30, 1944, and held as many as 8,475 Japanese Americans forcibly evacuated from California...

    • Topaz War Relocation Center
    • Tule Lake War Relocation Center
      Tule Lake War Relocation Center
      Tule Lake Segregation Center National Monument was an internment camp in the northern California town of Newell near Tule Lake. It was used in the Japanese American internment during World War II. It was the largest and most controversial of the camps, and did not close until after the war, in...


External links

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