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| Puyallup Assembly Center (Camp Harmony) | |
|---|---|
| Name | Puyallup Assembly Center (Camp Harmony) |
| Location | Puyallup, Washington |
| Other names | Camp Harmony |
| Used | 1942 |
| Controlled by | War Relocation Authority |
Puyallup Assembly Center (Camp Harmony) was one of several temporary detention sites used during the mass removal and incarceration of people of Japanese ancestry from the West Coast of the United States in 1942. Operated as an interim facility before relocation to permanent internment camps, the site held thousands of internees drawn largely from the Seattle metropolitan area and the state of Washington. The center’s existence intersects with major World War II developments, federal wartime policy, and postwar civil rights struggles.
The assembly center was established amid tensions following the attack on Pearl Harbor and the subsequent issuance of Executive Order 9066 under President Franklin D. Roosevelt. Situated on the fairgrounds of the Puyallup County Washington State Puyallup Fairgrounds near the city of Puyallup, Washington and the Tacoma, Washington metropolitan area, the site lay within proximity to Seattle, Washington and Fort Lewis. Local authorities, including the Puyallup County Sheriff and Washington (state) officials, coordinated with federal agencies such as the United States Department of War and the War Relocation Authority to repurpose the fairgrounds. The selection reflected broader patterns seen at other assembly centers like Tanforan Assembly Center, Santa Anita Assembly Center, and Stockton Assembly Center.
Following military orders from commanders in the Western Defense Command and directives from Lieutenant General John L. DeWitt, the site was converted rapidly in spring 1942 to accommodate evacuees. Administration combined personnel from the War Relocation Authority and local law enforcement; key administrative figures included WRA administrators and military police overseen by the United States Army. The facility was officially designated as an assembly center, part of a national network that also included Rohwer Central and Gila River relocation centers by the WRA. Logistics involved coordination with agencies such as the Federal Bureau of Investigation and Civilian Public Service in broader wartime staffing contexts. Records, manifests, and rosters were maintained by clerks working under civil and military supervision.
Residents lived in hastily constructed barracks and converted livestock stables on the fairgrounds, enduring crowded quarters and makeshift communal facilities similar to conditions reported at Manzanar National Historic Site and Minidoka National Historic Site. The daily regimen included food service lines managed by camp staff, communal mess halls influenced by rationing policies, and limited medical care often coordinated with local hospitals such as Madison Park Hospital and regional public health departments. Schooling for children was organized by teachers drawn from the internees and local educational authorities, mirroring efforts seen at Topaz War Relocation Center and Heart Mountain Relocation Center. Internees organized cultural activities, religious services involving clergy from institutions like Buddhist Churches of America and Catholic Charities USA, and limited commercial enterprises within the perimeter controlled by military police and WRA guards. Reports and testimonies referenced issues like sanitation, cold winters, and inadequate privacy that resembled conditions documented in investigations by civil liberties groups such as the American Civil Liberties Union and Japanese American Citizens League.
After several weeks to months, inhabitants of the assembly center were transferred to more permanent WRA camps located inland, including Manzanar War Relocation Center, Minidoka War Relocation Center, Gila River War Relocation Center, and Tule Lake Segregation Center. Transfers were coordinated via military and civilian transport, often by trains departing from regional depots near Seattle-Tacoma area. The closure of the assembly center followed the completion of WRA camp construction and the shifting of federal administration from hurried military oversight to longer-term incarceration management. The site was formally returned to local authorities and the fairgrounds resumed peacetime functions, though aftereffects lingered.
The legacy of the assembly center is tied to national debates about civil liberties, wartime policy, and reparations pursued in the postwar era. Legal and political responses included litigation and legislative measures such as cases reviewed by the United States Supreme Court in decisions like Korematsu v. United States and eventual redress measures culminating in the Civil Liberties Act of 1988. Community remembrance initiatives involved the Japanese American Citizens League, local historical societies including the Puyallup Historical Society, and federal recognition through the National Park Service’s preservation efforts at sites like Manzanar National Historic Site. Memorials, oral histories archived by institutions such as the Densho Project and university archives at University of Washington contribute to scholarship and public education. Debates about property restitution, historical interpretation, and educational curricula involved stakeholders from Washington State Legislature and civil rights organizations.
Prominent internees and personal narratives from the site include men, women, and children later associated with community leadership, cultural production, and civil rights advocacy. Personal accounts collected by historians and archives feature storytellers who later worked with entities like the Japanese American National Museum, Densho, and academic researchers at Stanford University and University of California, Los Angeles. Some former residents participated in redress advocacy alongside figures connected to the Commission on Wartime Relocation and Internment of Civilians, contributing testimony to hearings that informed the Civil Liberties Act of 1988. Memoirs and oral histories referencing life at the assembly center appear in collections curated by regional museums and national repositories including the Library of Congress and the National Archives and Records Administration.
Category:Japanese American internment camps Category:Puyallup, Washington