Manzanar Memories

by Greg

The trip to Manzanar was okay but it probably been better if they didn’t split the classes up so Borat and I could chill. Besides the fact it was cold and I was freezing my butt off it was pretty fascinating. Our group’s guide was pretty cool too. First she took us to see this short film about people’s lives in Manzanar. After the movie she took us outside to the mess hall, it was small. After that we went on a tour, thank god it was on the bus. While we were on the bus the guide said something like Manzanar had a 4 miles perimeter. She was also saying that the kids that played baseball and other sport in Manzanar always had to be the home team because the government would not let the kids leave Manzanar yet. So that’s a little bit of what I learned at Manzanar.

Maureen at Manzanar

by Maureen

Yesterday we went to Manzanar near Lone Pine and visited the museum. I enjoyed the memorial they built to honor the people that passed away in Manzanar and the people who succeeded in leaving those camps alive, and also the museum, inside the rebuilt auditorium but not so much outside apart from the memorial.

One reason I didn’t like going to Manzanar is because they tore everything down, and rebuilt the watch tower, the auditorium, and one of the mess halls. I don’t think they should have torn down all of those barracks and the rest of those buildings. How do you think the people who were put in those horrible camps feel when they come back and nothing is left for them to prove that there even was a camp? I bet they feel pretty bad that all their memories have been destroyed, as a child or an adult.

What I did like about Manzanar was inside the museum, they had people’s belongings from Manzanar, with a tag on it that said their name. They also had a big long list of the 110,000 Japanese people who were sent to the camps after the bombing of Pearl Harbor. They also had a short movie on what happened in Manzanar in the movie theater. Another thing I think was a great way to honor the Japanese people who had to suffer in those concentration camps is how they created a memorial. Lots of people all around come and set hundreds of paper cranes in front of the memorial to pay their respects towards the people who died in those camps and for the people who survived.

This is how I felt about the day we spent in Manzanar yesterday with our school.

Up the Road

by Lizeth

On Monday the twenty third we went to Manzanar they showed us some pictures and talked to us about the historical site.

The Manzanar trip my whole class took was not really what I expected it to be. They say it is a historical site but they took everything that was there when the Japanese were there. They sold all the barracks but they remodeled everything before they sold it. They have some of the barracks all the places that are around Manzanar. When we went they had a barrack there but it really didn’t really belong to Manzanar anymore it belonged to Big Pine.

They said that later at Manzanar they wanted to have a barrack that was solar powered and that showed how it changed over the years. The barracks that were bathrooms all aren’t there anymore all you see is the plumbing tubes.

All that they have now is plants. They don’t have anything that was there before. The only thing they have now that was there before is the school but it doesn’t look like a school any more they remodeled it so it can have printed pictures of Manzanar and a room that shows how big the barracks were and how they look in the inside. They also have a gift shop inside the old school.
So I liked the Manzanar trip but I just wish that they have more things that were actually there when the Japanese people were there.

Manzanar Response

by Shawni

Yesterday we went to Manzanar internee camp near Independence, C.A. We read the book “Farwell to Manzanar” by Jeanne Watkatsuki Houston and her husband James Houston. This was the reason for our trip. It was a fun trip, even though I almost blew away in the wind.

At Manzanar we learned about what the people of Japanese ancestry went through during World War II. When we were there we watched a movie that told the stories of the people at Manzanar. The film was interesting and I learned a lot about what happened to the residence of Manzanar. The fact that the people of Manzanar turned a place that was thrown together in a small amount of time into a more homely place is an interesting concept.

The history of Manzanar is interesting because the people who lived in Manzanar were free; inside the barbwire. The movie we watched said that the people at Manzanar were freer than people at other concentration camps.

The trip yesterday was fun even though it was windy. I learned a lot about life in Manzanar and had fun.

Our Trip

by Bryan

The trip to manzanar was okay. I thought it was more fun then I expected. I thought that the history of it was interesting mostly because it happened so close to where I live. But stuff like the holocaust to me is really interesting and the history of Manzanar is something like that.

I think it would have been better if the weather wasn’t so bad. I almost blew over in the wind. And they separated the grades so Greg and I couldn’t chill.

Shane's World

by Shane R.

When I went on the school field trip yesterday, I realized how unjust the relocation of Japanese during WWII was. The complete misery of having to leave your home, with only having a few days notice, taking only what you could carry and having your past life be destroyed when you get out would destroy anybody but some how they recovered.

As we went to the cafeteria, they had recreated, I realized how hard it was for the Japanese. They had no refrigeration for the first few years and there were knot holes in their barracks and cafeterias. Under all those unbearable conditions some how Japanese made it a livable by building thing for them relaxation such as a golf course and after we went to the cafeteria.

I am grateful that none of my ancestry could be traced back to the relocation camps. Also I’m glad that the Japanese have recovered. I believe that we should learn form are mistakes.

Paulie Walnuts

by Paul

The school went to Manzanar yesterday. I’m Japanese so I think I was more interested than everyone else. My Grandma and other ancestors went to a concentration camp like Manzanar. When I said that my great uncle Kenny went to the one in Nebraska the ranger said that the Nebraska camp was like Guantanamo Bay. The people gave me these papers of where I could find info about my family that went to the camps. I felt sort of connected to Manzanar.

The ranger talked about what happened when we went into the mess hall. The class got to see many pictures of how the Japanese lived in the camp. She used James as an example.

Then I tried to see how life was in Manzanar by trying to picture the book and put the picture where I was looking at. I could imagine how crowed it must have been in the building with five people. Also in the book I could see Jeanne’s father driving around in his car like there was no tomorrow. The bus drove us past block 28 which was where Jeanne lived. The rock gardens looked so cool even though they weren’t plants. It was cool how they put these rocks in a cool formation. Since it was windy I saw people in there with all the noise of the wind hitting the windows and how much dust the houses collected. All the houses and mess halls had holes in the wall and the floor. The ranger said that they even had a golf course at Manzanar, but that was later on when the war was almost over.

I think that it was unjust to put the people in the camp just because they had slanted eyes. Thank god that we didn’t do they same to every Muslim person after 9/11.

Chelsea's Thoughts...

by Chelsea

I think what they did to the Japanese during World War Two was unjust. Putting all Japanese-Americans into internment camps was wrong. I believe they should not have kept them in the prison camps for so long. If the police and the government couldn’t see that they were innocent of giving illicit information to the Japanese then they shouldn’t have been arresting them in the first place.

While I was reading the book Farewell to Manzanar I was very sad for the Japanese who were sent there. I was also angry at the government because they were responsible for sending them there. If they were going to send all of the Japanese then they should have sent all of the German-Americans and the Italian-Americans too. But since they can’t do that, they shouldn’t have sent any of them to internment camps.

I think that what the residents of Manzanar did to the camp itself was pretty awesome. They turned it from this rundown, cruddy camp into a homier place to live. They actually made it a lot nicer than it was when they had gotten there. I really hate what they did to the Japanese but I think that because they were able to overcome it, they were amazing.

Trip To Manzanar

by Horacio

Manzanar is an awesome place to go when you want to know some history about the historic places that are around you. Manzanar was an apple orchard before it became a war relocation center.


Manzanar was pretty cool it would be better if the wind was not blowing that hard. I was freezing my butt off.

The bad part was that everything was gone like all the buildings and the memories. The tour of the whole camp was fun. A ranger came with us to tell us where all of the places at Manzanar, like the baseball field and the cemetery. It was a fun day.

Marco's Moments

By Marco

On the trip to Manzanar the 7th and 8th grade kids were separated into two groups. The 7th graders went to watch the film inside and the 8th graders went outside were the ranger showed us the mess hall.After she showed us the mess hall the ranger took us all around the camp.she showed us the baseball field, the parks, and the cemitary.

It was to cold for us to actully go outside so we just drove on the bus looking out the window.When the ranger was done showing us some of the camp we went inside to look at the film were the people who actually were in Manzanar talked about it.Once the film was over we went to look around the building at all the cool things that were at Manzanar.Before Manzanar was a War relocaition camp it was a apple orchard. Manznar is a good place to learn about history and what use to be there before like the Indians who use to be there. Manzanar is a fun place to spend a day.

Manzanar Trip

by Emanuel

The trip to Manzanar was better than I thought it would be. It was interesting and kind of fun. The only bad part was that we had to walk in the freezing wind. Even when we went inside we were cold and the wind was still really loud. Inside it was more interesting than outside. We saw pictures of the camp and the people in the camp. We also held artifacts from the people there.

In the auditorium we watched a film about how the camp was in the 40’s. It had the voices of some of the people that were there. It was fascinating to see some of the stuff that the Japanese used to live. We walked around the mess hall and saw all of the things that were used by the Japanese. I got a tag from the museum that has the name of a person that was in manzanar it also has some info about the person and what happened to them.

Overall it was kind of fun.

Danielle's Trip to Manzanar

by Danielle

On March 23, 2009 the 7th and 8th grade classes went to the Manzanar War Relocation Center between Independence and Lone Pine. For me that was my 2nd time going, it was different the last time I went. That last time there were still some of the buildings there now the only buildings there are the mess hall and the old Manzanar school/auditorium/gym.

The Manzanar War Relocation Center was built in 1942 because the Japanese had bombed Pearl Harbor. The Americans got so scared they decided in order to avoid this happening again; they ordered 110,000 men, women, and children to go to Manzanar. Even if the people were born in America, had Japanese ancestors, or just looked Japanese they were sent off.

The people told us how they’re going to re-build the mess hall. I think they should have left it how it was so we could actually get a feeling of what it was like. Also, they shouldn’t have torn down the other buildings like the barracks. I probably would have enjoyed the trip more if there were more things that were actually there not re-built.