Closing week for From Barbed Wire to Battlefields

We are in the closing days for our Special Exhibit, From Barbed Wire to Battlefields: Japanese American Experiences in WWII at the National WWII Museum. Stay tuned for a traveling version of this show that we hope will bring this story to new audiences. Last week we received a visit from someone with intimate knowledge of the subject, the little girl seated fifth from the left in the front row. This photo is of the Nursery Class I in Jerome Relocation Center in May 1944. Jerome housed 2,483 school age children, thirty-one percent of the total population. The photo is surprising, as it goes against the notion that all of the children in the camp schools were Japanese American or at least visibly identifiable as such. Some of the children may have been local children or children of the WRA personnel. We are seeking more information about this photo and about children who attended school in any of the WRA camps. If you have artifacts, photographs, or stories related to Japanese American experiences in WWII, we invite you to share them with us. Visit our special exhibit show here at the Museum by October 12, 2014.

Jerome Relocation Center, 1944. Courtesy of Marcella Lecky.