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This was a U.S. Army Internment camp which operated from June 15, 1942 until 1944. It held internees of Japanese ancestry transferred in form other camps along with German nationals, German and Japanese POWs, and U.S. Army soldiers who had been convicted of various offenses.Construction began in February of 1942, and in July 613 Issei males were transferred in from Fort Lincoln.
The camp population at its peak was 2,500, and the number of Issei were 1,500 of those.
On June 27, 1942, Toshio Kobata and Hirota Isomura, two elderly issei internees, were shot and killed by a guard who claimed they were running towards the fence to escape. The guard was tried and found not guilty by an Army court-martial board even after many internees testified that Kobata and Isomura were both physically disabled.
On August 10, 1942, representatives from the U.S. State Department and Spanish Consulate visited at the request of internees who had been protesting work conditions since June. The Lordsburg military commander, Colonel Lundy, had been ordering internees to build military facilities in harsh conditions and without pay, a violation of the Geneva Convention. Protests had been met with threats and arrests.
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