Ken Kitajima, dies at 91

Ken Kitajima, one of Camp Amache’s last survivors and an advocate, died at 91.

As an adolescent, he spent around two years at the Amache camp near Granada — one of 10 U.S. sites created for the mass incarceration of Japanese Americans during World War II.

“We were citizens, most of us,” said Kitajima, who was confined there from 1943 until 1945. “We lost everything.”

In his adulthood, he joined the military, serving in the Air Force during the Korean War. Later, he helped lead the charge in turning the former Colorado internment camp into a federal historic site.

President Joe Biden signed the Amache National Historic Site Act into law in March. The space is meant to “provide places for people to learn about and reflect upon the historic events that occurred there,” according to the National Park Service.

“As a young boy at Amache, I never thought I’d see an America that cared about my story,” Kitajima said.

Former President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed the order that set the wheels in motion on Feb. 19, 1942. The Amache camp operated from 1942 to 1945, with more than 10,000 people passing through — including Kitajima, who recalled barbed wire fencing, guard towers, military men with machine guns and searchlights.

The government forced his family to leave California in a matter of two weeks “with only what you can carry.”

Kitajima and his sister were bullied by classmates after Japan bombed Pearl Harbor on Dec. 7, 1941 — an attack that provoked “mass hysteria,” he said. He remembered name-calling and having rocks thrown at him.

So, Kitajima said he was initially “kind of glad” to leave. “But it was a terrible experience,” he said.