Rohwer War Relocation Center

Date: 1942 to 1945
Location: Rohwer, Desha, Arkansas, United States
Surnames/tags: us_history Arkansas united_states

The Rohwer Relocation Center was one of ten War Relocation Centers (WRA) that the United States government established during World War II to detain Japanese-Americans. It was located in Desha County, Arkansas, near the town of Rohwer, and was in Operation from September 1942 to November 1945. Citizens of Japanese descent were forcibly removed from their homes on the West Coast after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941. The US government justified this action by citing concerns over espionage and security threats, despite there being no evidence of Japanese-Americans engaging in disloyal activities.

Contents 1 The Camp 2 Camp Administration 3 Arriving to the Camp 3.1 Camp Life 3.2 Privacy 3.3 Self-Policing 3.3.1 Shootings at Rohwer 4 Work in the Camps 4.1 Cooperatives 5 Food Rationing 6 Education 7 Military 8 Camp Deaths 9 Notables 10 Legacy 11 Sources

The Camp

The Rohwer War Relocation Center setup by the War Relocation Authority (WRA) is one of two World War II era internment camps built in Arkansas to house Japanese Americans.

Construction of the camp began in late July 1942 and lasted about a year. The Linebarger-Senne Construction Company of Little Rock, Arkansas was awarded a contract by the Army Corps of Engineers to build the camp. Within a year of the start of construction, the camp was three fourths full to capacity.

The camp consisted of A-framed barrack type buildings arranged in blocks. Each block was designed to house 300 people, with a mess hall, recreational barracks, a laundry and communal latrine in the middle flanked by six barracks for housing on each side. Each barracks was a 20' by 120' building divided into four or six apartments to house families. They had no running water and only a wood or coal stove to heat the unwinterized buildings.

Camp Administration

Ray D. Johnson, a forty-four year old native of Cushman, Arkansas with a degree in Agriculture, was named the project director. He ran the camp, and was the final say in disputes within the camp. James F. Rains, a former vocational and agricultural teacher from Weiner, Arkansas, was appointed Operations Division head, and Francis R. Mangham, a former Department of Agriculture Assistant Officer, was named the Chief of Administrative Management.

Dr. Joseph B. Hunter, a native of Texas, was head of community management. He was a World War I veteran and spent six years of missionary work in Manchuria and Japan. He performed marriages, held religious services, officiated at funerals, and assumed the responsibility of interpreting for non-English speaking residents.

Jack Curtis was the lawyer responsible for handling all the camps' legal concerns. He oversaw all camp publications, outside press relations, and documentation of camp activities recorded by Officer Austin Smith Jr.

Arriving to the Camp

group of evacuees wave good-byefrom rear of train

Both Arkansas camps were one of the last facilities to be built. Most of the residences housed in the camps came from Stockton, Fresno, and Santa Anita assembly centers in California. Internees were transported to the camps on special trains with blackened out or shaded windows. Armed guards accompanied each train, and the journey from California to Arkansas took about four days.

Loyd Shingu, one of the residences at Rohwer, described his first look at the camp as he stepped off the train. One of the first things you saw was a tall watchtower. The camp was surrounded in barbed wire, and guns were pointed at you as you entered what would be your new home for the remainder of the war. He would later say, it was a sad thing for all of them. He thought as he took in the surroundings, it was not enough to move them so far inland in a remote rural forested area of the country, but they had to have barbed wire and armed guards to watch over them.

Miyo Senyaki, another residence, described his experience. They arrived in the middle of the night, and getting off the trains, they were put on Army trucks. They were driven into the camp to spot in what would be their home. Their setup in rows was barracks, but everything was unfinished. A friend told him there was lumber in the camp and to come along, and they would show him where to get it. As they gathered the lumber to finish their housing, men suddenly confronted them on horses patrolling the camp. He quickly told them that anyone caught stealing lumber would be shot on sight as they rushed back to their barracks.

It was not only adults who would experience this life, but also children. In the diary of one young girl, she wrote about her arrival at the camp. It was about 1:30 a.m. at night when they arrived. Most of the children were asleep, and wanted to stay on the train until morning, but they were quickly ordered off the train. As she stepped out, her feet sank into the muddy water soaked ground. From there, they walked to a brightly lit mess hall, and her first thought was, "Oh good, we will finally get something to eat", but instead of preparing or having food waiting for the hungry travelers, they were setup to register the arrivals and assign them their quarters. The head of each family formed two rows, and one by one they approached a desk and were given their assignments for quarters.

Camp Life

Japanese American soldiers of the 442nd Combat Team at dance, Camp Shelby, Mississippi, with Japanese American girls from Jerome and Rohwer Relocation Center in Arkansas: March with women guests, highlighting the dance, led by their officers

The barracks used for housing had no furniture, just a used cot, some of them torn and underslung. There were no blankets either. The first few months in the camp were spent looking for basic living essentials. People searched the grounds for anything that could have been discarded, that could be used to build furniture or make their life more comfortable. Tools were another important item needed to repair items that did not work or had been left unfinished.

Whatever your personal life was like before camp life, it had to be altered to fit the routine of the camp. There were designated times to work, eat, sleep, and play. There were restrictions on when you could go to other blocks within the camp, and even times when you could use the bathrooms.

To see anyone in the administrative section, you needed an appointment. That meant time obtaining a pass, permit or papers, and then waiting for an appointment.

To limit the number of people who contact or deal with the administrative section, the WRA allowed each block to have an elected representative. The representative had to be a Nisei (second generation) born in America, a citizen, and twenty-one years of age or older. The rules were later relaxed to allow Issei, the first generation, to serve in this capacity.

Privacy

Housing families in barrack style buildings with then partitions meant little or no privacy within the family group. This communal living also altered child-raising practices. Whereas before life at the camp, meal time was an important family ritual where all the family came together for the day. At the dinner table, you could enjoy family company, discuss family issues, and sharpen the etiquette and social skills of the children. Eating at a mess hall system meant long lines, excessive noise, and limited seating, so it was get in and get out. Families had to conform with schedules and rules for eating. No discussion of problems in front of strangers, no more family hierarchy with the father at the head of the table. This breakdown of traditions meant men tend to sit with other men to discuss the gripe of the day. Women were left with the small children, and teenagers ate with their friends.

Self-Policing

The elected representative passed laws to govern themselves in the camps. A judicial commission, much like a criminal court, was formed to trie violators, but any sentence or punishment had to be approved by the Project Director. He had the final say and determination on what would be done.

Although crime rates in the camp were very low. They formed their own internal police with 5 police administrators and 50 unarmed Japanese-American police. In the 38 months the camp existed, there were only 50 violations. Soldiers used to joke as a compliment on the order within the camp that "we need a good riot or even a murder or two to liven things up around here."

That wasn't to say the camps did not have their share of fights, petty thefts, gambling, juvenile delinquency, gangsterism, and the smuggling of alcohol. Years of suppressed fears and frustrations would erupt into violence, pitting one generation against the other, or dividing citizens against aliens. But the culture and traditions of virtue, honesty, and respect for authority, the "Yamato-damashii" (enduring spirit), taught encouraged and praise in Nisei youth, were still dominant behavior within the camps.

One of the contributing factors to the smooth operations of Arkansas camps was the commonality in Southern culture and Japanese conversation style. Circumlocutions like "What do you think?", "If you don't mind?", and "This sure needs to be done," did much to foster cooperation and defuse potentially harmful situations.

Bill Hosokawa commented on his life in the camps as they were relaxed in Arkansas. Later, in his job at the Denver Post, he wrote "I think the evacuees acquired the Southern culture by osmosis."

Shootings at Rohwer

Evacuees Shot at Rohwer

There were three shootings of Japanese Americans in and around Rohwer Relocation Center.

The first was on November 10, 1942, when a local resident, W. M. Wood, fired his shotgun at Private Louis Furushiro in a Dermott Cafe. Furushiro managed to avoid serious injury and just get powder burns despite the close proximity of the two (less than a couple of feet). Furushiro, who was stationed at Camp Robinsion, Arkansas, was on his way to the camp to visit his sister.

The second incident occurred on November 13, 1942, when a local tenant farmer shot at three Japanese Americans working outside the camp. Even though they were with a white overseer, Brown claimed he thought they were trying to escape. Even though two internees were wounded, Brown escaped any official proceedings when the Camp director Ray Johnson dismissed the incident as "a hunter who apparently was either drinking or slightly deranged."

The last incident was when a private guard assigned to protect the wood supply shot one inmate, injuring him.

Work in the Camps

Camp life involved work, everyone had to work to make this community a place that you could live in. While there was work available for wages, it led to many disputes within the camp. Labor relation boards were established to handle these disputes. The work policies and wage scales in the camp led to much resentment for residences. They were resentful of the fact that many labor assignments involved work that should have been done or completed by the WRA, such as land clearing, digging drainage, sewage ditches, and repairing faulty or hastily planned construction work within the camp. After all, it was they who were forcibly removed from their homes, placed in a reduced financial situation, and thrust into harsh regimented environments.

However, most labor disputes arose over the quality of the tools, inadequate transportation, and methods of completing work projects. The work they were expected to do in the camps could not have been more socially and vocationally incompatible with the group of people interned in the camp. Of the camps populations, half were elderly and children. This left "man power" shortages for the type of demanding work that needs to be done to complete the camp.

Something they detested more in the camp than the employment conditions and harsh camp life was idleness, dependency on others and irresponsibility. The attitude of "shikataganai" (this cannot be helped) was the only thing to say to keep your sanity.

Cooperatives

While camp life was not something they wanted, or deserved during that period. They accomplished some extraordinary things while interned at the camps. With the control to self-govern, they organized cooperatives for small businesses, agricultural projects, to setup and operate schools, medical and health care facilities, and provided athletic activities for all age groups within the camp.

With these cooperatives, they produced all the necessities that the government did not or could not provide, such as services for shoe and watch repairs, beauty and barber shops, clothing, toilet articles, dry goods, and other items planners forget about. They did all this without government money, pooling the wages they received from work in the camps to set up community-wide nonprofit cooperatives. They managed and purchased needed supplies from commercial vendors, paid the government for use of WRA buildings, and reimbursed the government for the standardized salaries paid to all cooperative employees. All profits were put in a trust fund for the general welfare, education and patronage of camp residents.

Cooperatives throughout the camps were a success. At Rohwer, they started with a $150 load from the McGehee Bank and $100 from the project director Ray Johnson. They turned this $250 investment into a twenty-service department enterprise with $97,087.84 in total assets in 1944.

Food Rationing

No other facet of camp life caused as much consternation as they heated dispute over food. When the camps were established, the government decided that the food requirements for an average Japanese "would or should" be less than an "American soldier in active physical training." The WRA's official policy was to provide "an adequate diet for the Japanese at a cost less than the cost of rations provided to the United States Army." In reality, this meant they would spend no more forty-five cents per individual a day for food rations. To supplement this inadequate food allotment, they turned to growing fresh vegetables, raising hogs and poultry.

At Rohwer, they cultivated 610 acres of land, and built a special irrigation system to draw water from a nearby bayou to deal with drought conditions. On this farm acreage, they produced 102 different varieties of produce totaling more than $1,286,000 pounds. As a result, they were able to produce and grow eight-five percent of the vegetables provided in camp. The excess produce was shipped to Camp Robinson military installation and the state Veterans' Hospital in Little Rock. However, as if no good need goes unpunished, the WRA reduced their food rations from forty-five cents to thirty-seven cents.

Despite their resourcefulness, there were shortages of certain types of government rations. Milk and dairy products were restricted to children under twelve. Each internee was limited to one cup of coffee and two cups of tea per day. At least two days of the week, the meals served were meatless, and if you arrived late to the mess hall, you received smaller portions, or in some cases nothing at all due to the shortages.

Education

Students and teacher in a fourth-grade class in Barracks 3-4-B at the Rohwer Relocation Center

Arkansas camps were organized into nursery, kindergarten, elementary, junior and senior high classes. Mess halls were used as auditoriums, mess kitchens became libraries, and recreational buildings became gymnasiums. No alterations were made to the buildings to accommodate the schools. They continued to serve as their dual function. At first glance, it appears Rohwer's schools were like any other school system in the United States, but they were drastically underfunded, and teachers paid a lower salary than the rest of the state.

Teaching Japanese was prohibited, but they still taught and operated private Japanese language schools. As soon as the war ended, the WRA closed all schools to attempt to make the residence leave.

While college age, men and women were allowed to attend area colleges, very few were accepted. Governor Homer Adkins, a member of the Ku Klux Klan, instructed Arkansas colleges to bar Japanese Americans from campus. During his administration, there were many laws passed to limit work or education in the state. Some would be ruled unconstitutional later, but they had their intended effect.

Military

And still they served. Many military age men enlisted prior to the war or after that were interned at Rohwer or had family interned there. Here is a list of those heroic men who placed honor and country over their mistreatment.

Camp Deaths

At least 168 people died at the Rohwer camp while they were interned there, and are buried at a Rohwer Relocation Center Memorial Cemetery in Desha County, Arkansas. The cemetery was planned and laid out by the incarcrees in 1943-1944 and set within a rectangular plot containing two historic monuments, 24 low-lying concrete headstones, two entrance markers, 64 concrete posts, a bench engraved and built by the incarcrees. Seventeen cherry trees were planted in 1994 to replicate the original design, which also included a water feature and bridge.

Buried at Rohwer Cemetery

Dengoro Abe (14 Feb 1882 - 9 Nov 1944)	Sano Mori Ansai 12 Mar 1889 - 25 Aug 1943
Tohachi Asai 24 Oct 1879 - 21 Nov 1942	Genkichi Fukushima 6 Apr 1876 - 12 Jul 1944
Tozaimon Goto 17 Sep 1860 - 31 Oct 1943	Yuji Tom Harada 13 Nov 1867 - 3 Mar 1943
Zenjiro Hashimoto 10 Mar 1882 - 19 Feb 1943	Aoki Hidekichi 3 Jul 1881 - 8 Jan 1943
Naozo Kabamisha 12 Jan 1870 - 7 Nov 1942	Asao Mary Kagawa 15 Nov 1891 - 24 Jun 1943
Fukui Kisaburo 4 Apr 1868 - 2 Jun 1943	Takeshi Kowata 1890- 1943
Saijiro Kunishi 4 Mar 1867 - 22 Aug 1943	Infant Masaki 16 Oct 1942 - 16 Oct 1942
Matagoro Matsuda 12 Jan 1872 - 15 Feb 1942	Shintaro Matsumoto 28 Dec 1877 - 7 Jan 1944
Tokuye Nakamura 1897 - 1944	Yoshikichi Nakayama 14 Apr 1882 - 12 Jun 1943
Marion Masuye Ogawa 28 Mar 1926 - 25 Sep 1943	Yoshino Omura 23 May 1897 24 May 1943
Infant Sano 1943 - 1943	Yoshitaro Sueymatsu 25 Oct 1875 - 1 Jan 1943
Infant Tasugi 1943 - 1943	Kasaburo Yoshimoto 8 Dec 1872 - 5 apr 1943

Notables

• Edwin Imazu (1897-1979), an art director and production designer. Also interned at Jerome
• Takayo Matsui Ochi (1938-2020), Japanese American attorney and civil rights activist
• Michiko Francoise (Toyama) Muto (1908-2000), a composer. She was one of the first women invited to study at the Columbia–Princeton Electronic Music Center (today known as the Computer Music Center)
• George Takai (April 20, 1937 -) Actor, author, activist, Rohwer internee, best known as Captain Hikaru Sulu from Star Trek (1966–69). Since his parents refused to take a vow and did not "pass" the loyalty questionnaire, the family was later transferred to Tule Lake War Relocation Center.
• Takayo Fischer (born 1932), an American stage, film and TV actress. Interned at Jerome and Rohwer
• Henry Yuzuru Sugimoto (1900-1990), Japanese-born artist. interned at Jerome and Rohwer
• Aiko Abe Louise (Yoshinaga) Herzig-Yoshinaga (1924-2018), political activist, interned at Jerome, Manzanar and Rohwer
• Ruth Aiko Asawa (1926-2013), Japanese American sculptor, interned at Rohwer
• James Susumu Ishida (1943-2006), actor best known for his role as T. Fujitsu, Marty McFly's future boss in Back to the Future Part II in 1989 interned at Rohwer
• Janice Hatsuko Mirikitani (1941-2021), current poet laureate of San Francisco; co-founded with her husband, the Rev. Cecil Williams, the Glide Foundation (Glide Memorial Church is featured in the Will Smith film The Pursuit of Happiness). Glide empowers San Francisco's disadvantaged members of society through extensive outreach and advocacy efforts, interned at Rohwer
• Taitetsu Unno (1929-2014), Buddhist scholar, lecturer, and author; interned at Rohwer and Tule Lake War Relocation Center
• Grayce Ritsu (Kaneda) Uyehara (1919-2014), Japanese-American social worker and activist, interned at Rohwer

Legacy

Rohwer Relocation Center was one of ten concentration camps established by the US government during World War II to incarcerate over 120,000 Japanese Americans, two-thirds of whom were American citizens. Located in rural Arkansas, Rohwer held over 8,000 individuals at its peak, who were forcibly removed from their homes and businesses on the West Coast after Japan's attack on Pearl Harbor. The internment of Japanese Americans at Rohwer and other camps represents a dark chapter in American history, driven by racism, fear, and wartime hysteria. The legacy of Rohwer and the internment is one of the profound injustices, loss of civil liberties, and lasting trauma for those impacted, as well as a reminder of the importance of safeguarding the constitutional rights of all people, especially in times of crisis.

Rohwer was the last internment camp to close in the United States.

• Video of George Takei's remarks on April 16, 2018, at the fifth anniversary of the WWII Japanese American Internment Museum in McGehee.
• Museum tour of World War II Japanese American Internment Museum at McGehee focuses on camps at Rohwer and Jeromer.

Sources

• Bearden, Russell. “Life Inside Arkansas’s Japanese-American Relocation Centers.” The Arkansas Historical Quarterly 48, no. 2 (1989): 169–96. "Life Inside Arknasas's Japanese-American Relocation Centers." Accessed 19 Feb 2023.
• Keohan, Tom. National Park Service, Rohwer Relocation Center Memorial Cemtery. "Rohwer Relocation Center Memorial Cemetery." Acccessed 19 Feb 2023.
• Wikipedia contributors. "Rohwer War Relocation Center." Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Accessed 19 Feb 2023.
• Bearden, Russell E., Encyclopedia of Arkansas, Rohwer Relocation Center. Rohwer Relocation Center." Accessed 19 Feb 2023.
• Arkansas Heritage Site. Arkansas State University, Rohwer Japanese American Relocation Center]." Accessed 19 Feb 2023.
• Niiya, Brian. Discover Nikkei, Japanese Migrants and their Descendants. "Ten Little-Known Stories About Rohwer Concentration Camp." Accessed 19 Feb 2023.