Camp Harmony is the unofficial euphemistic name of the Puyallup Assembly Center, a temporary facility within the system of

internment camps Internment is the imprisonment of people, commonly in large groups, without charges or intent to file charges. The term is especially used for the confinement "of enemy citizens in wartime or of terrorism suspects". Thus, while it can simpl ...

set up for Japanese Americans during

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...

. 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 The War Relocation Authority (WRA) was a United States government agency established to handle the internment of Japanese Americans during World War II. It also operated the Fort Ontario Emergency Refugee Shelter in Oswego, New York, which was t ...

camps at Minidoka, Idaho,

Tule Lake, California Tulelake ( ) is a city in northeastern Siskiyou County, California, United States. The town is named after nearby Tule Lake. Its population is 902 as of the 2020 census, down from 1,010 from the 2010 census. Tulelake peace officers are authori ...

and

Heart Mountain, Wyoming Heart Mountain is an klippe just north of Cody in the U.S. state of Wyoming, rising from the floor of the Bighorn Basin. The mountain is composed of limestone and dolomite of Ordovician through Mississippian age (about 500 to 350 million ...

.Louis Fiset.
Puyallup (detention facility)
" ''Densho Encyclopedia'' (accessed 28 Apr 2014).

Camp Harmony was established in May 1942, shortly after the

attack on Pearl Harbor The attack on Pearl HarborAlso known as the Battle of Pearl Harbor was a surprise military strike by the Imperial Japanese Navy Air Service upon the United States against the naval base at Pearl Harbor in Honolulu, Territory of Hawa ...

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 Puyallup ( or ) is a city in Pierce County, Washington, United States, located about 10 miles (16 km) southeast of Tacoma and 35 miles (56 km) south of Seattle. It had a population of 42,973 at the 2020 census. The city's name comes from t ...

. 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. 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 Fort Lewis may refer to: *Fort Lewis (Colorado), a former United States Army post (1878–1891) in the U.S. State of Colorado **Fort Lewis College, a college in the Durango, Colorado, United States **Fort Lewis Skyhawks, athletic teams of Fort Lewi ...

, Washington in December. The Puyallup Fairgrounds remained closed to the public until the end of the war, operating as an army training facility. After the Assembly Center closed the U.S. Army 943rd Signal Service Battalion were station at the camp for training before departing. The first postwar fair took place in September 1946. 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 George Tsutakawa (February 22, 1910 – December 18, 1997) was an American painter and sculptor best known for his avant-garde bronze fountain designs. Born in Seattle, Washington, he was raised in both the United States and Japan. He attend ...

as a memorial to those confined at the wartime detention site.

References

External links

*
University of Washington Libraries Camp Harmony Exhibit

Wing Luke Asian MuseumUniversity of Washington Libraries Digital Collections – Social Issues PhotographsHistory of The FairDensho: The Japanese American Legacy Project
{{Japanese American internment camps Internment camps for Japanese Americans Buildings and structures in Pierce County, Washington Buildings and structures in Washington (state) Puyallup, Washington