Community Groups Work to Place a Mark of History on a Little Known WWII Camp
During the turbulent war years, the Tuna Canyon Detention Center imprisoned hundreds - mostly Issei men - labeled as 'enemy aliens.'
For three years during World War II, a chain link fence topped with barbwire enclosed the open grounds of the Verdugo Hills Golf Course in Tujunga, Calif. and separated Issei men from their families.
Sumi Shimatsu was 13 and a half when she stood five feet away from the fence to peer at her father, photographer Tokiji Utsushigawa, on the inside of the Tuna Canyon Detention Center.
"We were to speak only English, which was hard for my parents because they only spoke Japanese," said Sumi, now 78. In a moment of frustration, Sumi's mom, Nobu, started speaking her native language and was swiftly silenced with a bayonet pressed against her neck.
"I said English," said the American GI.
"It was very scary, but those were the conditions at that time," said Sumi.
From 1941-43, Tokiji was one of the nearly 3,000 prisoners of various nationalities - most were Issei men - labeled as "enemy aliens" and imprisoned at Tuna Canyon to await trial.
Some prisoners were quickly cleared, returned to their families and shipped off to internment camps, but others were held for years.
Today, the rolling hills of the 18-hole golf course located at 6433 La Tuna Canyon Road speak nothing of the site's dark past and community leaders want to commemorate the history of Tuna Canyon with a permanent monument and California State Historic Landmark status.
Historic landmark designation would not affect the future use of the land, but it would provide a permanent place to remember the site's unique history. Especially now since new owners want to buy the land, tear down the golf course and build condominiums, said Lloyd Hitt, president of the Little Landers Historical Society.
From C.C.C. Camp to Prison
Starting in 1933, the site housed the Civilian Conservation Corps (C.C.C.) Camp, also named "Tuna Camp." C.C.C. Camps were part of President Franklin Delano Roosevelt's "New Deal" formed to put men to work restoring and rebuilding the country. But a day after the Pearl Harbor attack, the camp was taken over by the U.S. Department of Justice and turned into a detention center for "alien enemies."
Tuna Canyon was designed as a self-governing facility to hold 200-300 prisoners at a time. There were seven barracks, an infirmary, one mess hall, one administration building and one office building. Although most detainees were Japanese, the camp also housed German, Italian and Japanese Peruvian prisoners arrested from Southern California.
"I think [historical designation] would be helpful. It's a part of history," said Claire Nakashima, a Nisei who was 18 years old when two FBI officers took her father, Fumajiro Harada, from their Boyle Heights home in February 1942.
By the time the FBI came to their door, Fumajiro was already prepared because other Issei men had already been arrested. Fumajiro owned a farm supply store and a restaurant, but the family thinks it was his involvement in kendo that made him an FBI target.
A month later Claire, her mother Kimino, and younger brother Henry traveled to Tuna Canyon to visit their father. Most families were not allowed to set foot in the camp, but with inside help, they were able to tour the facilities. It was a clean and well-kept facility, said Claire.
"I think he was showing us to ease our minds," she added.
Claire and her family would eventually go to Manzanar while Fumajiro was transferred to another camp in Santa Fe, New Mexico.
"Most people didn't have a clue to what was really going on. I didn't," said Hitt. "You would expect that of those born after 1945 but even those who lived in town at the time ignored what was going on because of what the government led them to believe. People who were children at the time said that their parents told them not to look when they drove by."
Memorializing a Grave Injustice
The Little Landers Historical Society - led by Hitt and Paul Tsuneishi - along with the Historical Society of the Crescenta Valley are spearheading the campaign for historical landmark status and a permanent marker.
"I have told most people that working with state government is slow and before we approach the state government, we want to have as much support from individuals, organizations and the property owner first," said Hitt.
They've already sent out 130 letters to organizations and individuals asking for letters of support, which they will bring to the property owner. They need the owner's approval in order to file an application for historic designation.
They are also working with city and Los Angeles County officials to negotiate the purchase of the property to keep it as a golf course. The last recorded purchase price was over $7 million.
"The marker would remind us of our mistakes and at the same time recognize those Japanese, German, and Italians who were arrested because of their ethnicity and little else," said Hitt.
For some, the effects of injustice continue to stay with them.
Takami Sakatani was a young Issei vegetable farmer when war broke out. Days after Pearl Harbor, the FBI tried to arrest Takami, who later turned himself in and was taken to Tuna Canyon. He left behind his business, wife and children.
"I was only 12 years old and did not comprehend the enormity of what was happening," said Bacon Sakatani, a Korean War veteran. "I thought what was happening was normal for non-citizen aliens.
"After all that has been brought out about the war years and the camps, I think the single most inhumane and unjust action taken against my family was the taking of my father to the Tujunga camp for no apparent reason at all leaving my mother and eldest brother running the farm as best they could. That ruined a lifetime of work until then."
For others, the memories are too important to forget.
After visiting her father at Tuna Canyon, Sumi, who went to Heart Mountain, saw her father for the first time a year and a half later on Ellis Island after failing to board the S.S. Gripsholm to Japan. The reunited family went to Crystal City, Texas where they were interned together.
At Crystal City, there are two markers explaining the site's history, said Sumi, the same should be done for Tuna Canyon.
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