Sahara to Talk on Sand Island, Honouliuli Camps

GARDENA — Kanji Sahara will speak about the Hawaii wartime detention camps Sand Island and Honouliuli on Sunday, June 14, at 2 p.m. at Merit Park Recreation Hall, 58 Merit Park Dr. (off 158th Street, near Pacific Square), Gardena.

Kanji Sahara

All are welcome to attend. The program is sponsored by the Greater L.A. Chapter of the Japanese American Citizens League.

In the 1920s, the Army started making plans for the defense of Oahu. Officers such as Col. John DeWitt and Gen. George Patton worked on the plans. Sahara will explain how and why internment of Japanese Americans in Hawaii occurred, and will describe how President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s plan to intern all Nikkei in Hawaii was foiled.

Honouliuli Internment Camp, the largest and longest-operating camp in Hawaii, was given national monument status in February. Sand Island, located at the entrance to Honolulu Harbor, was opened shortly after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor in December 1941 and housed Nisei and Issei detainees, as well as some Germans and Italians, until the opening of Honouliuli in March 1943.

For information, call Louise at (310) 327-3169.