Following the Japanese
attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941, President
Franklin D. Roosevelt authorized the forced relocation of Japanese Americans living on the West Coast with
Executive Order 9066. Over the spring of 1942, some 120,000 Japanese Americans were moved into temporary
assembly centers before being transferred to more permanent and isolated relocation centers like Granada. Run by the
War Relocation Authority, the government body responsible for administration of the incarceration program, Granada was one of ten such camps, the only one to be built on private land. The camp site covered , of which only was used for residential, community and administrative buildings, while the rest was devoted to agricultural projects. The land was owned by several ranchers and farmers before the war, and only one of these property owners willingly sold his acreage to make way for the camp, creating tension between the WRA and the other landholders, whose parcels were taken via
condemnation. This did not necessarily translate to overall resistance to Japanese Americans being housed in the area: Colorado Governor
Ralph Lawrence Carr was one of the few to welcome the Japanese Americans and the only governor not to oppose the establishment of a WRA camp in his state, going against the
anti-Japanese sentiment of the times.
passenger car on August 30, 1942. The men and women wait for the bus ride to Camp Amache, Granada Relocation Center, southeastern Colorado.
U.S. War Relocation Authority photo Granada opened August 27, 1942, and reached a peak population of 7,318 persons by February 1943, making it the smallest of the WRA camps (although the total number who passed through the camp during its three-year existence was over 10,000). Nearly all of the camp's original internees came from California: southwest
Los Angeles, the Central Valley and the northern coast. Many had been residents of the
Yamato Colony, a farming settlement established by
Issei businessman
Kyutaro Abiko. The Camp Amache residential area is spread atop a low hill, which prevented the flooding and mud problems which plagued other WRA camps, although the area was prone to high winds and severe dust storms. There were several clubs, extracurricular activities, and social events that were available to students of all grade levels in Amanche High School. Sources indicate that the high school
football team lost one game in three years. One noteworthy event was when the Amache football team played the undefeated football team from Holly, Colorado, which is located just east of Amache on U.S. 50. This game was unique because Holly actually agreed to come up to the camp and play Amache on their home field. One of the Holly team players was
Roy Romer, who went on to become Governor of Colorado. The Amache team won this game by a score of 7–0, the only touchdown coming from a trick play, thus the Amache team can claim to be undefeated on their own field. Adults in camp had various opportunities for employment. The camp had a police department which was worked by sixty Japanese American internees, although it was headed by a white security officer. Similarly, the Amache Fire Department consisted of three crews of Japanese American firefighters and one internee fire chief working under white supervisors. Some (though not many) who had earned teaching credentials prior to their confinement were employed in the camp schools. Internee leaders set up a separate
Amache District for
Boy Scouts at the camp. These Scouts still flew the American flag as seen in the photograph at right of a Boy Scout
Memorial Day parade at the camp. In June 1942, the War Department authorized the formation of the 100th Infantry Battalion consisting of 1,432 men of Japanese descent in the Hawaii National Guard and sent them to Camps McCoy and Shelby for advanced training. Because of its superior training record, the Army's previous restrictions against Nisei (listed as enemy aliens ineligible for active service after Pearl Harbor) were lifted in order to create the 442nd RCT in January 1943 when 10,000 men from Hawaii signed up with eventually 2,686 being chosen along with 1,500 from the mainland. The 100th Infantry Battalion entered combat in September 1943 and it became known as the Purple Heart Battalion because of their heroism and horrific casualties. It was joined by the 442nd RCT in June 1944 and together it lived up to the motto "Go For Broke" because of the degree to which its soldiers risked their lives in battle and became the most highly decorated unit in the war and to this day, for its size and length of service. Eventually, 441 Nisei joined the U.S. Army from this camp, either volunteering or accepting their conscription into the famed 100th/442nd and MIS. In the southwest corner of the camp is a small cemetery and memorial dedicated to the Japanese Americans from there who volunteered to fight in Europe in World War II. A large stone memorial with 31 men's names engraved in it sits in the cemetery in memory of those soldiers from Amache who died defending the U.S. ==Preservation and designation==