History

In the 1800s, many emigrants from Japan crossed the Pacific Ocean to seek economic opportunity in America. The pioneers (Issei) and their American-born children (Nisei) encountered various forms of racial prejudice in the United States.

More than two-thirds of internees at the ten Relocation Centers were American citizens by birth. Those who came to the Minidoka Relocation Center, also known as the Hunt Camp, found a hastily constructed facility ill-suited for the extreme climate of south central Idaho. The camp consisted of administration and warehouse buildings, 44 residential blocks, schools, fire stations, hospital, post office and an assortment of shops and stores, and a cemetery. The hastily-built barracks had no insulation to combat winter temperatures as low as -21 degrees. Spring, with its ankle-deep mud and blinding dust storms, was followed by scorching summertime heat, with temperatures soaring well over 100 degrees.

Despite their internment, most Japanese Americans remained intensely loyal to the United States, and many volunteered for military service. Of the ten relocation centers, Minidoka had the highest number of volunteers, about 1,000 internees — nearly ten percent of the camp's peak population. Many fought with the famed 442nd Regimental Combat Unit, which saw extensive action in France and Italy and was the most decorated unit of its size and length of service in American military history. Seventy-three soldiers from Minidoka died while fighting for their country and two received the Medal of Honor, the highest military honor awarded in the United States.