Camp Harmony

Camp Harmony was the unofficial euphemistic name of the Puyallup Assembly Center, a temporary facility within the system of internment camps set up for Japanese Americans during World War II. Approximately 7,390 Americans of Japanese descent from Western Washington and Alaska were sent to the camp (nearly doubling the town of Puyallup's then-population of 7,500) before being transferred to the War Relocation Authority camps at Minidoka, Idaho, Tule Lake, California and Heart Mountain, Wyoming.^[1]

Puyallup Assembly Center, 1942

Camp Harmony was established in May 1942, shortly after the bombing of Pearl Harbor and President Roosevelt's subsequent Executive Order 9066, which authorized the eviction of Japanese Americans from the West Coast. The location for the assembly center was on and around the Western Washington Fairgrounds in Puyallup, Washington. It consisted of four distinct areas:

A, with a population of about 2000, located northeast of the fairgrounds.
B, with a population of about 1200, just east of the fairgrounds in the vicinity of the current Blue parking lot.
C, with a population of about 800, located northwest of the fairgrounds.
D, with a population of about 3000, located on the fairgrounds proper in the area including the racetrack and grandstand, east of the roller coaster.

The barracks "apartments" were designed to allow 50 square feet of space per individual, with one small window, a single electrical socket and a wood stove. Each area contained several mess halls, laundry facilities and latrines. A 100-bed hospital was built in Area D, and existing facilities were used as administration offices and community centers.^[1]

In May and June 1942, just under 100 Japanese Americans left Camp Harmony to find work or attend school outside the exclusion zone, or to repatriate to Japan. On May 26, 196 men volunteered for an early transfer to Tule Lake to help finish construction on the camp there. The majority of the internees made the 30-hour train trip to Minidoka in 16 groups of approximately 500, beginning on August 12. The last train left the Puyallup station on September 12, and on September 30, 1942 the site was handed over to the Fort Lewis Ninth Service Command. The Puyallup Fairgrounds were then occupied by the U.S. Army 943rd Signal Service Battalion until they were transferred to Fort Lewis, Washington in December. The Puyallup Fairgrounds remained closed to the public until the end of the war, operating as an army training facility.^[1]

The first postwar fair took place in September 1946.^[2] On November 25, 1978, the first Day of Remembrance was held at the Western Washington Fairgrounds, and over 2,000 attended. Five years later, on August 21, 1983, Governor John Spellman and Washington state representatives dedicated a sculpture by George Tsutakawa as a memorial to those confined at the wartime detention site.^[1]

References

1 2 3 4 Louis Fiset. "Puyallup (detention facility)," Densho Encyclopedia (accessed 28 Apr 2014).
↑ TheFair.com : Site Information : About Us : History

External links

Coordinates: 47°10′58″N 122°17′43″W / 47.1828785°N 122.2953974°W / 47.1828785; -122.2953974

Internment of Japanese Americans

Key topics	Commission on Wartime Relocation and Internment of Civilians Executive Order 9066 Executive Order 9102 Korematsu v. United States Ex parte Endo Lordsburg Killings War Relocation Authority History of Japanese Americans Propaganda for Japanese-American internment

Concentration camps	Gila River Granada Heart Mountain Jerome Manzanar Minidoka Poston Rohwer Topaz Tule Lake

Assembly centers	Arboga Assembly Center Fresno Assembly Center Mayer Assembly Center Merced Assembly Center Owens Valley Reception Center Parker Dam Reception Center Pinedale Assembly Center Pomona Assembly Center Portland Assembly Center Puyallup Assembly Center Sacramento Assembly center Salinas Assembly Center Santa Anita Assembly Center Stockton Assembly Center Tanforan Assembly Center Tulare Assembly Center Turlock Assembly Center Woodland Civil Control Station

Citizen Isolation centers	Leupp Isolation Center Moab Isolation Center Old Raton Ranch Camp Camp Tulelake

Detention facilities	Catalina Federal Honor Camp Crystal City Alien Enemy Detention Facility Fort Lincoln Alien Enemy Detention Facility Fort Missoula Alien Enemy Detention Facility Fort Stanton Alien Enemy Detention Facility Kenedy Alien Enemy Detention Facility Kooskia Alien Enemy Detention Facility Santa Fe Alien Enemy Detention Facility Seagoville Alien Enemy Detention Facility Tuna Canyon Detention Station

Army facilities	Camp Blanding Camp Forrest Camp Livingston Camp McCoy Camp Florence Fort Bliss Internment Camp Fort Howard Internment Camp Fort McDowell Internment Camp Fort Meade Internment Camp Fort Lewis Internment Camp Fort Richardson Internment Camp Fort Sam Houston Internment Camp Fort Sill Internment Camp Griffith Park Detention Camp Haiku Internment Camp Honouliuli Internment Camp Kalaheo Stockade Kilauea Military Camp Lordsburg Internment Camp Sand Island Internment Camp Stringtown Internment Camp

Notable incarcerees	See: Category:Japanese-American internees

In the arts	Allegiance Born Free and Equal Farewell to Manzanar No-No Boy The Invisible Thread Under the Blood Red Sun When the Emperor was Divine List of documentaries List of feature films

Legacy	Japanese American redress and court cases Renunciation Act of 1944 Japanese-American Claims Act Day of Remembrance CWRIC Civil Liberties Act of 1988 Japanese American National Museum Densho Long Journey Home Japanese American Exclusion Memorial Japanese American Internment Museum

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