An archaeological survey has found new evidence of a piece of Hawai'i history that many would rather forget.

About 300 people of Japanese ancestry were held at the Honouliuli internment camp during World War II.

That piece of Hawai'i's past had all but disappeared after the camp was demolished at the end of the war. But a five-day archeological investigation last year found more than 100 remnant "features" on the Honouliuli site, including a relatively intact wooden building on the southern portion of the property identified as part of the camp's administrative complex, as well as a number of security features and sewer lines.

The survey concluded that the site would be eligible for listing on the National Register of Historic Places based on four different criteria, including its role in U.S. history.

"Honouliuli eloquently expresses the feeling of the internment camp, not only with its relatively isolated location, but also with the presence of artifacts related to prison security, such as fence posts and security lights," said the study, which also pointed out that a section of the site housed prisoners of war.

The findings are among several new developments tied to Honouliuli following a decade of efforts by the Japanese Cultural Center of Hawai'i to establish a historical center at the 115-acre site where the public can learn about and remember one of the darker chapters of American history.

JCCH officials have now begun talks with Monsanto Hawaii, which owns the area, about setting aside acreage for a visitor center, and a long-range plan for the site has begun to take shape.

Because the camp site itself sits within a gulch that at least at present is difficult to access, the organization is looking at a parking lot, walking path and visitor center at the rim overlooking the gulch.

Brian Niiya, the cultural center's resource center director, said Monsanto proposed a seven-acre parcel along the rim for that purpose. "We're thinking something like the Pali where you're looking over the historic site, with pictures and maps of what it looked like then," he said.

The election of President Obama and the ascension of U.S. Sen. Daniel K. Inouye to head of the key Senate Appropriations Committee give Niiya and others hope that the site could receive federal funding.

"Definitely, the story in Hawai'i has to be told," said Gerald Yamada, head of the Japanese American National Heritage Coalition. "And it's one I would push for."

GIVING PUBLIC ACCESS

Tomorrow marks the 66th anniversary of the opening of the Honouliuli Internment Camp.

Nationally, 120,000 men, women and children, mostly Japanese, were incarcerated in internment camps. Taken to the camps without formal charges or trials, they were there because they were the same race as the enemy.

About 1,400 people, both citizens and resident aliens, were interned in Hawai'i. About 100 were of Italian descent, the rest Japanese. Honouliuli, the largest of eight locations and the last to be occupied, housed about 300. Honouliuli also served as a prisoner-of-war camp for an untold number of others.

Jane Kurahara, a JCCH volunteer who has spent a decade on the project, said that when a center is established, "I would hope that (visitors) would take away from it that it is critical we treat each other with respect and dignity, the way we would want to treat ourselves, no matter how different we are."

She noted that the cultural center's mission is to preserve the legacy of the Japanese in Hawai'i.

The hope of the cultural center team is to have Honouliuli designated as a historic site managed by the National Park Service, another government agency, or a preservation group.

Meanwhile, project supporters are hopeful that federal funding will soon be made available for development of the Honouliuli site.

Niiya said the cultural center has two goals for the site — preservation and public access.

"The ideal would be a park and a visitor center where people can gather ... as well as actual access to the site," Niiya said.

VISION TAKING SHAPE

In 2007, Monsanto Hawaii bought 2,300 acres mauka of H-1 Freeway from the James Campbell Co. for $31.3 million.

The camp is within Honouliuli Gulch, mauka of H-1 Freeway with Kunia Road to the east and Makakilo to the west. Much of the site today is thick vegetation. That, along with the rough terrain and remoteness of the site, has made access difficult. That's been good for preservation, but presents challenges for setting up a place the public can visit.

Fred Perlak, Monsanto Hawaii's vice president of research and business operations, said the company is open to preservation of the internment camp site.

"We've been collaborating with the JCCH and others on how to best preserve and share the story of the camp with present and future generations," Perlak said. "We're very, very open to a large number of possibilities. We've been encouraging the JCCH to dream and to dream big about the possibilities."

With that commitment in hand, Japanese Cultural Center officials have begun mapping out a vision for the site.

Long term, there might be a hiking trail that leads half a mile from the parking lot down into the gulch. "The goal is ultimately to have a path that the public could go down and actually interact with the remains of what was at the camp site," Niiya said.

Both cultural center and Monsanto officials would prefer that the National Park Service ultimately manage the site.

Niiya said he's optimistic that will happen.

Frank Hays, the National Park Service's regional director for Hawai'i, was formerly the director of the Manzanar National Historic Site. Manzanar, in eastern California, is the best-known and best-preserved of the 10 identified Japanese internment camps.

"We've met with him and he's very sympathetic and supportive of us," Niiya said. "We're hopeful that having him there will help us."

Whether Monsanto would sell the parcel, lease it or work out some other arrangement has yet to be determined.

"I am confident we can work this out," Perlak said. "I don't see any major barriers."

HOPEFUL FOR FUNDING

Legislation passed by Congress two years ago authorized a $38 million program aimed at the preservation and interpretation of Japanese internment camp sites nationwide. Honouliuli was identified as one of four potential sites that could be preserved.

No money was attached to the measure, however.

Spearheading the movement to obtain that funding is the Japanese American National Heritage Coalition, which was also instrumental in pushing through the original legislation.

Yamada, who heads the coalition, said Obama's presidency works in favor of the funding since former President George W. Bush was reluctant to shift money away from his other priorities.

"During the last administration, the political leadership did not want it funded not so much because it was against the program, but because it (had) so many problems meeting existing priorities," Yamada said.

Also seen as a positive is Inouye's new role as chairman of the Senate Appropriations Committee.

"That should help a lot," Yamada said, noting the World War II Medal of Honor winner's previous support for memorializing Japanese internment sites.

Because of the current focus in Washington on economic stimulus issues, Yamada and Niiya are not as optimistic as they once were that they can obtain any of the money in this year's budget.

"Before this economic crisis happened, we thought there was a really good chance," Niiya said. "We're guardedly optimistic that at some point this may happen."

"I'm positive it will be funded," Yamada said.

Once the funding does come through, Yamada said, Honouliuli is one of the top two sites that should be in the front of the line.

CAMP REMNANTS FOUND

More than 100 "features" were identified during a five-day archaeological investigation on the Honouliuli site headed by Jeff Burton and Mary Farrell of Arizona-based Trans-Sierran Archaeological Research.

Burton, as a National Park Service archaeologist, has had extensive experience with an estimated 35 other Japanese internment sites on the Mainland, including Manzanar.

The findings of the reconnaissance were detailed in a survey report released by the Japanese Cultural Center in December.

While most of the buildings at Honouliuli were systematically removed when the camp closed, the team did find a relatively intact wooden building on the southern portion of the property identified as part of the administrative complex of the camp.

In later years, the structure was apparently used as office space for a chicken farm, he said.

"That was the one very significant find," Niiya said.

Otherwise, the team found building foundations and remnants of water systems and sewer systems, as well as "shards from ceramic pieces and other things that were clearly from the period."

Kurahara, the retired librarian who has been among the volunteers working on the project for about a decade, said the resource center staff was stymied when in the late 1990s it was asked to pinpoint exactly where the Honouliuli camp was.

Other people were surprised to learn there was an internment camp in Hawai'i at all.

"It was really a period of history that was in serious danger of being lost here in the Islands," Kurahara said.