1942-1945
Building a Resting Place
When an infant died shortly after the center opened in 1942, it became immediately necessary to create a place of burial. The birth and death of the infant was recorded in an article in the center's internee-produced newspaper, The Rohwer Outpost. The article states that the center's first birth was on October 16, 1942. Mr. and Mrs. Fumio Masaki's baby only lived for a few hours. War Relocation Records and the internee-produced newsletter document a total of 168 internee resident deaths at Rohwer Relocation Center. Because many of the Japanese were Buddhist, most of those who died were cremated.
In 1944 construction began for those who were Christian or preferred burial, however, a cemetery was necessary. The original plans did not take the need for a cemetery into account, but the cemetery soon became a place of artistic expression for those at the center.
The War Relocation Authority (WRA) provided funding for funeral and burial costs. The decorative cement tombstones, added in 1943, were reportedly provided by the Social Welfare department. That same year internees planted decorative shrubs and trees at the cemetery. Photographs from 1945 depict the cemetery with some trees, shrubs, and a small flower bed. In 1944 construction began on the obelisk, or the Monument to the Rohwer Dead. Koheiji Horizawa of block six was honored as the designer in the monument's dedication ceremony in 1945. The obelisk is ornate and was likely painted at the time of construction. A second large monument- to commemorate young men from the center who lost their lives while serving in Europe in the Army's 100th Battalion and the 442nd Combat Team- was dedicated on November 4, 1945. The internee newsletter records Koheiji Horizawa as the designer of this monument as well. Harry Fujioka was listed as Horizawa's assistant. The monument was sponsored by the center's chapter of the non-profit United Service Organizations (USO).
1945-1950s
Shadow of The Camp
On November 30, 1945, Rohwer Relocation Center became the last War Relocation Authority (WRA) center to close. At that point, the site was abandoned. The barracks and outpost buildings were sold and taken away, but the cemetery remained intact. Two monuments built by the internees, coupled with the unique headstones, memorialized the rich history of life behind the barbed wire of Rohwer as the foliage native to the Arkansas Delta crept in. The elements, as well as local vandals, would cause great damage to the cemetery over the next decade. The obelisk monument suffered the most, with severe damage to the concrete urns, finials, and flower petals. Internees of the center returned to visit the cemetery during the period, but what they found barely resembled the cemetery they remembered. The area was neglected, overgrown, and degrading quickly. The Arkansas Democrat, in December 1955, commented on the conditions.
In one corner the center is the cemetery. Briars and weeds hide many of the concrete monuments, which were fashioned by the artisans of the community. Almost weekly some former residents return, and they are surprised to see that few traces of their former home remain. Occasionally one of the farmers who has purchased some of the center property comes across a reminder of the past- patches of flowers, which testify to the Japanese love of beauty.
The former residents wanted to see the cemetery survive and thrive as a memory of the center. Local interest in the preservation of the site was unfortunately not apparent during the period. In 1959, Joseph B. Hunter contacted the federal government about federal preservation measures for the center cemetery. Hunter was former assistant director at the center and was contacted often by internees to find out what had come of the center and the cemetery. He was unable to get federal help but did enlist the owner of the property, Robert Adcock, to remove the overgrown brush from the site. Adcock willingness to clean up the overgrowth was the first step towards preservation of the site.
1960s-1980s
Disrepair and New Interest
As a new decade began, Joseph B. Hunter reached out to the Desha County American Legion. He convinced them to sponsor the maintenance and care of the site. they have seen to the basic upkeep and cleanliness of the cemetery since. Throughout the 1960s there were memorial services in the cemetery. These services typically brought former internees and directors, Arkansans, and officials in state, federal, and Japanese government positions to the cemetery. These memorial services were important for raising awareness of the cemetery's condition of the monuments at the site in an effort to prevent overgrowth, most of the ornamental plantings from the 1940s were removed. in 1967, internees returned to the center and planted five flowering cherry trees.
In the 1970s no significant improvements were made to the cemetery. During the decade, though, crape myrtles were planted on the perimeter of the cemetery, replacing the barbed wire fence placed there in 1945. On July 30, 1974, positive attention was brought to the cemetery when it was listed on the National Registers of Historic Places. Sometimes in the late 1970s, the headstones were painted white, likely by older volunteers using materials funded by the state, to prevent against weathering. In the 1980s the cemetery's monuments and headstones began to show great degradation. Likely causes of the degradation include the southern Arkansas climate, vandalism, and forty years of general wear. Still no funds were available to restore and maintain the site, so the decline only grew worse over time. This decline would continue until the early 2000s when Sam Yada, the only former Rohwer internee to remain long-term in Arkansas, became worried about the loss of the monuments. He began a fundraising drive to install a new monument that would be a lasting tribute to internees who died in the Rohwer Relocation Center or while serving during World War II. The new granite monument, topped with a bronze eagle, was dedicated May 30, 1982.
1990s-Present
Distinction and Restoration
Proposed early in 1990, the Rohwer Restoration Project was developed by Michael Hoshiko and George Sakaguchi of the Japanese American Citizens League. The project provided for stabilization of the bases of the monuments, which were beginning to show large cracks and weather-related deterioration. The stabilization project was completed in May 1992. When the Rohwer Relocation Center Cemetery received distinction as a National Historic Landmark in July of 1992, a new granite monument containing a bronze plaque announcing the designation was dedicated. Rohwer remains one of the only three surviving cemeteries at a Japanese relocation center in the United States. The monument stabilization and National Historic Landmark distinction brought new preservation attention to the site and promoted maintenance efforts throughout the 1990s.
By the early 2000s, however, the site had again fallen into disrepair. In 2022, the National Park Service deemed the site "threatened." Subsequesntly in 2003, the University of Arkansas at Little Rock launched Life Interrupted: The Japanese American Experience in World War II Arkansas, a project that included a documentary film, a conference, the creation of a website, and the collection of primary resource material concerning the incarceration of Japanese and Japanese Americans at Rohwer Relocation Center and Jerome Relocation Center. The project brought international attention to the centers of the lives of those interned. (More information about the UA Little Rock project is available in the Life Interrupted Collection exhibit and at CAHC.)
In 2004, with a National Park Service grant, UA Little Rock partnered with WER Architects/Planners and 1:1:6 Technologies Incorporated to create a Condition Assessment Report and a plan of action for restoration of the site. In 2009 the National Park Service began administering grants through Japanese American Confinement Sites Grant Program, a program established by Congress that allocates up to $38 million for the ten former relocation centers "to identify, research, evaluate, interpret, protect, restore, repair, and acquire historic confinement sites in order that present and future generations may learn and gain inspiration from these sites." The Rohwer cemetery was the subject of a grant in 2011 for Phase 1, the restoration of the monuments. Phase 2 will include the restoration of the unique concrete headstones. Phase 3 would include the restoration of the landscape of the cemetery, restoring the site to its original appearance.
*The banner photo shows both historic and modern monuments at the Rohwer Cemetery.