[Congressional Record Volume 155, Number 60 (Thursday, April 23, 2009)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E954-E955]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




INTRODUCTION OF THE HONOULIULI INTERNMENT CAMP SPECIAL RESOURCES STUDY 
                              ACT OF 2009

                                 ______
                                 

                          HON. MAZIE K. HIRONO

                               of hawaii

                    in the house of representatives

                        Thursday, April 23, 2009

  Ms. HIRONO. Madam speaker, I rise today to introduce a bill to 
authorize a special resources study of the World War II-era Honouliuli 
Internment Camp site in the State of Hawaii.
  Unlike much of the mainland United States, Japanese Americans in 
Hawaii were not subjected to the mass roundups experienced by Americans 
of Japanese ancestry who lived on the West Coast of the U.S. mainland. 
Executive Order 9066, which called for removal of Japanese Americans 
from restricted areas, was not enforced to the same degree in Hawaii. 
Forcing all of Hawaii's Japanese American population into camps was 
simply not practical as they made up some 40 percent of the population 
at the time.
  Executive Order 9066 put Hawaii under martial law. Interestingly, 
even before the attack on Pearl Harbor, the FBI had a ``custodial 
detention list'' of 337 people in Hawaii marked for arrest if America 
went to war with Japan. On December 7, 1941, the day Pearl Harbor was 
attacked, the FBI and the Army ordered the internment of everyone on 
the ``custodial detention list.''
  Most of these initial internees were ``consular agents,'' persons who 
worked on a volunteer basis to assist other Japanese in filling out 
reports of birth, marriage, and death to be sent back to the emigrants' 
original villages in Japan. Many of these volunteer ``consular agents'' 
were long-time residents of Hawaii but were not citizens because they 
were not born in Hawaii. At the time, Japanese immigrants were barred 
from becoming naturalized U.S. citizens on the basis of race. None of 
these ``consular agents'' were ever charged with espionage or sabotage. 
Shinto and Buddhists priests, language teachers, and community leaders 
were also rounded up and put in the camps.
  Honouliuli Internment Camp was the largest and last-closed of the 
eight detention centers that operated in Hawaii. Honouliuli was also 
used as a prisoner of war camp. Each of the major islands had 
internment facilities for a period of time. Some 1,200 Japanese 
Americans and 100 Americans of Italian or German descent were interned 
in Hawaii between December 7, 1941, and September 14, 1945. Many were 
initially held in Hawaii and then transferred to internment camps on 
the U.S. mainland.
  The story of the internments in Hawaii is not well known. Most people 
in Hawaii are not even aware of this history. Archeological 
reconnaissance surveys of the Honouliuli Camp

[[Page E955]]

site have been conducted with the support of the Japanese Cultural 
Center of Hawaii, Conservation Fund, National Park Service, National 
Trust for Historic Preservation, and the University of Hawaii. The 
landowner, Monsanto, has also been supportive.
  The Honouliuli site, which is located in a gulch in an agricultural 
area on the island of Oahu, still contains many remnants of the camp. 
The special resource study authorized by this bill will evaluate the 
Honouliuli site, as well as associated sites on Oahu and other islands, 
regarding its significance in the history of World War II; in relation 
to the forcible internment of Japanese Americans, Italian Americans, 
and German Americans; and for its physical historic resources.
  One of the things I am most proud about America is our willingness to 
examine painful and often shameful periods of our past. The experience 
of Hawaii in relation to Executive Order 9066 has not really been told 
before. The proposed resource study will provide a map of how we might 
move forward in preserving and interpreting the historical record of 
this period.
  I urge my colleagues to join me in supporting this legislation.

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