#0934 Temporary Detention Camps for Japanese Americans - Sacramento Assembly Center

Title

#0934 Temporary Detention Camps for Japanese Americans - Sacramento Assembly Center

Site information:

Walerga Park, NW corner of Palm Ave and College Oak Drive, Sacramento

38.668328,-121.351268

Plaque information:

Private plaque.  The one shown in my photo has been replaced by a stone version.

Plaque text:

Lest We Forget

Walerga Assembly Center was established by the United States at the onset of World War II to assemble and temporarily detain, without charge or trial, 4,739 Sacramento residents solely because of their Japanese ancestry. Approximately 120,000 persons were uprooted from their West Coast homes and interred in ten War Relocation Centers. Over two-thirds were American citizens by birth. Given the opportunity, many thousands left the ten centers to work on farms and in war industries or to serve with valor in the armed forces. Their acts and deeds gave living proof that Americanism is a matter of mind and heart, not a matter of race or ancestry. May this memorial remind all Americans to be alert so that such injustices never recur.

Camp Kohler succeeded Walerga Assembly Center with the departure of the last Japanese American internees in late June 1942. After being taken over by the Army Signal Corp, the camp’s facilities were greatly expanded to house and train military personnel. Camp Kohler became one of the Corps’ three principle training centers during World War II.

Registered 5/13/1980

Collection

Geolocation