I can only assume that you have never actually been to the Bainbridge Island historical Museum. My time there was spent fending off a truly odd man hell-bent on teaching me the history of Bainbridge Island from the discovery of the first rock. After I attempted to explain I was really only there to see the Japanese removal from the island exhibit he completely ignored me and and spent the next 53 min. speaking and making bad puns about the history of Bainbridge Island. That said when I finally got to the Executive Order 9066 exhibit it was truly moving.

The Museum called it Civilian Exclusion Order Number 1. There was a large picture of a woman holding a baby and then a more recent picture of an elderly woman and her now grown child. In the picture the baby has what looks like a yard sale tag on her as did the mother. It reminded me of the Star of David things the Jews had to wear during the war, it was hideous and demeaning. That Bainbridge Island was at the forefront of this movement makes me ill. One of the most amazing headlines was that 227 Bainbridge Islanders were evacuated. Of the 227 they were both American-born and foreign-born. Their personal belongings were stored in the Japanese Community Hall on Bainbridge Island there were only allowed to take toilet articles, clothing, china and tableware that were transported in army trucks, ferry and then on a train. Their property was left in government care including strawberry farms and nurseries. The farms were going to be operated by Filipinos and overseen by the Federal Reserve Bank and the Farm security administration. They were interned in concentration camps during World War II on Tuesday, March 24, 1942. The order proclaimed that all persons of Japanese ancestry, aliens and citizens would be excluded from Bainbridge Island by March 30 the following Monday. Community members only had six days to arrange for their farms and businesses. They were allowed to leave the island only on Thursday and Friday and for the last three days they are restricted to their homes between 8 PM and 6 AM by a curfew. There were 45 Japanese-American families involved. 239 men women and children the total did not include several Issei men who had been arrested and sent to special immigration service prisons early in February and several Nisei men serving in the US military. Only three families were able to relocate before the deadline. Armed soldiers removed them.


 

There is a story about the first evacuated Japanese family to make a permanent return to Bainbridge Island their last name was Takemotos. They arrived from Idaho and when they got back their home in Rolling Bay was a shambles the windows were broken and most of the property was missing in August 1945. There was a really interesting story about the Woodward family who wrote the Bainbridge Review from 1942 to 1945 they printed information about the internment camps their neighbors were in. There were a few protesters when the Japanese started coming back but most families on the island wanted them.

There is a letter from Pauline Nakata that talks about the conditions in the Manzanar War Relocation Center in Idaho. It was just amazing how well she’s taking it she said there were rows and rows of Barrick like buildings and they were forced to do laundry in tins she said it was all for the war effort so she understood. She writes a letter that she’s appreciative for the friendship the woman named Bernice on the island had showed her it is dated April 4, 1942 the incarceration lasted three years from 1942 to 1945.