Presidential Documents

11069 

Federal Register 

Vol. 80, No. 39 

Friday, February 27, 2015 

Title 3— 

The President 

Proclamation 9234 of February 24, 2015 

Establishment of the Honouliuli National Monument 

By the President of the United States of America 

A Proclamation 

The Honouliuli Internment Camp (Honouliuli) serves as a powerful reminder 

of the need to protect civil liberties in times of conflict, and the effects 

of martial law on civil society. Honouliuli is nationally significant for its 

central role during World War II as an internment site for a population 

that included American citizens, resident immigrants, other civilians, enemy 

soldiers, and labor conscripts co-located by the U.S. military for internment 

or detention. While the treatment of Japanese Americans in Hawai’i differed 

from the treatment of Japanese Americans on the U.S. mainland in ways 

that are detailed below, the legacy of racial prejudice, wartime hysteria, 

and failure of political leadership during this period is common to the 

history of both Hawai’i and the mainland United States. 

Early on December 7, 1941, Japanese air and naval forces attacked Pearl 

Harbor and other military installations on O’ahu. Before martial law was 

invoked, government officials began selectively rounding up Hawai’i residents on suspicion of disloyalty. They were confined at local jails, courthouses, and other facilities on six of the main Hawaiian Islands before 

being transported to the U.S. Immigration Station and Sand Island Detention 

Camp on O’ahu. Nearly all of the internees were of Japanese descent, including leaders in the Japanese American community who were educated, were 

teachers or priests, or were distinguished by virtue of their access to means 

of communication with Japan or to transportation from Hawai’i. Most would 

be sent to the mainland to be held for the duration of the war in Department 

of Justice and War Relocation Authority camps. Despite the government’s 

allegations of disloyalty, none of the Japanese American internees from 

Hawai’i was ever found guilty of sabotage, espionage, or overt acts against 

the United States, and all later received formal apologies and many received 

redress compensation from the United States. 

On the Island of O’ahu, the U.S. War Department sought a place removed 

from the active combat areas of Pearl Harbor for internment of individuals. 

The War Department chose Honouliuli Gulch, the bottom of which was 

hidden from view by the gulch’s steep walls. The Honouliuli Internment 

Camp opened on March 2, 1943, with the transfer of internees from Sand 

Island and rapidly swelled in population with the influx of prisoners of 

war. Managed by the U.S. Army, it was the largest and longest used confinement site in Hawai’i. 

Honouliuli is significant for having been used as both a civilian internment 

camp and a prisoner of war camp, with a population of approximately 

400 civilian internees and 4,000 prisoners of war over the course of its 

use. Honouliuli was divided into seven compounds: one compound for 

administration and guards, one for civilian internees, and eventually five 

compounds for prisoners of war. The civilian compound was further divided 

into sections for male civilian internees of Japanese ancestry, female civilian 

internees of Japanese ancestry, and civilian internees of European ancestry. 

Historic documents indicate there were 175 buildings, 14 guard towers, 

and over 400 tents among the 7 compounds on 160 acres. Many internees 

referred to Honouliuli as Jigoku-Dani (Hell Valley) because its secluded 


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location at the bottom of a deep gulch trapped heat and moisture and 

reinforced the internees’ sense of isolation and unjust confinement. 

The majority of Honouliuli’s civilian internees were American citizens or 

permanent resident aliens—predominantly Japanese Americans who were 

citizens by birth—interned on suspicion of disloyalty. The remaining group 

comprised predominantly German Americans, though there were also Americans and aliens of Italian, Irish, Russian, and Scandinavian descent. 

Honouliuli also held women and children who were Japanese civilians 

displaced from the Pacific. 

The 4,000 prisoners of war in Honouliuli included enemy soldiers and 

labor conscripts from Japan, Korea, Okinawa, Taiwan, and Italy. The prisoner 

of war compounds were guarded by an African American infantry unit 

as well as units of Japanese Americans from the mainland. 

Honouliuli closed in 1945 for civilian internees and in 1946 for prisoners 

of war. With the closing of the camp, fast-growing vegetation quickly took 

over the site. Honouliuli was forgotten as Americans celebrated the victories 

of World War II and focused attention on the valor displayed by Americans 

at Pearl Harbor and abroad. 

While both mainland and Hawaiian internment camps are sobering examples 

of wartime prejudice and injustice, Honouliuli reminds us of the differences 

in the way that forced removal was approached in Hawai’i and on the 

mainland. 

The primary difference between the Japanese American experience on the 

mainland and on Hawai’i is that the internment in Hawai’i targeted a relatively small percentage of the ethnic Japanese population on the islands. 

Less than one percent of Hawai’i’s ethnic Japanese population was interned 

in Hawai’i. This contrasts with the mass exclusion of all 120,000 Japanese 

Americans on the West Coast of the mainland. In Hawai’i, the Japanese 

American citizenry and immigrant population were over one third of the 

territory’s total population. Without their participation in the labor force, 

the economy of the territory could not have been sustained and the war 

effort in the islands would have been crippled. Both the policies in Hawai’i 

and those on the mainland devastated Japanese Americans and their families 

and created a social stigma that was borne by Japanese Americans during 

and after the war. The selective nature of the internment in Hawai’i also 

sowed division within the Japanese American community in Hawai’i, leading 

to ostracism and other backlash against the targeted individuals and their 

families that would last their lifetimes. 

The declaration of martial law served as the basis to authorize internment 

in Hawai’i, as opposed to the mainland where mass exclusion was authorized 

by Executive Order 9066. During the period of martial law from December 

7, 1941, to October 24, 1944, the U.S. Army issued hundreds of military 

orders, some of which were applicable only to persons of Japanese ancestry 

and enemy aliens. For example, people of Japanese ancestry were restricted 

from residing in certain areas of O’ahu and were forcibly removed from 

their properties. These types of discriminatory policies created an atmosphere 

of fear and suspicion. 

Finally, Honouliuli is significant because of the comparatively lower level 

of public understanding and awareness of the history of internment of civilians in Hawai’i during World War II. On the mainland during World War 

II, mass exclusion was well known. In contrast, the internment in Hawai’i 

was largely kept secret during World War II, and has only recently become 

the subject of scholarship and awareness campaigns. It was not until 1998 

that information about Honouliuli resurfaced. After 4 years of research and 

exploration, the site was uncovered in 2002. In 2008, an archeological research survey was conducted at the site. Honouliuli remains an object of 

archeological interest. 

Honouliuli serves to remind every American about the critical importance 

of safeguarding civil liberties and maintaining our values during times of 


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crisis. It is important to recognize Honouliuli as a part of our shared national 

heritage and national consciousness. It is a place to reflect on wartime 

experiences and recommit ourselves to the pursuit of freedom and justice. 

WHEREAS section 320301 of title 54, United States Code (known as the 

‘‘Antiquities Act’’), authorizes the President, in his discretion, to declare 

by public proclamation historic landmarks, historic and prehistoric structures, and other objects of historic or scientific interest that are situated 

upon the lands owned or controlled by the Federal Government to be national 

monuments, and to reserve as a part thereof parcels of land, the limits 

of which shall be confined to the smallest area compatible with the proper 

care and management of the objects to be protected; 

WHEREAS Honouliuli’s objects of historic interest were listed in the National 

Register of Historic Places in 2012 as nationally significant for their association with events that have made a significant contribution to the broad 

patterns of our history; 

WHEREAS, for the purpose of establishing a national monument to be administered by the National Park Service, the Monsanto Company has donated 

certain lands at Honouliuli to the United States, and the University of 

Hawai’i-West O’ahu has agreed to provide access across its property to 

those lands; 

WHEREAS it is in the public interest to preserve and protect the historic 

objects at Honouliuli; 

NOW, THEREFORE, I, BARACK OBAMA, President of the United States 

of America, by the authority vested in me by section 320301 of title 54, 

United States Code, hereby proclaim the objects identified above that are 

situated upon lands and interests in lands owned or controlled by the 

Federal Government to be the Honouliuli National Monument (monument) 

and, for the purpose of protecting those objects, reserve as a part thereof 

all lands and interests in lands owned or controlled by the Federal Government within the boundaries described on the accompanying map entitled, 

‘‘Honouliuli National Monument,’’ which is attached to and forms a part 

of this proclamation. The reserved Federal lands and interests in lands 

encompass approximately 123.0 acres, together with appurtenant easements 

for all necessary purposes. The boundaries described on the accompanying 

map are confined to the smallest area compatible with the proper care 

and management of the objects to be protected. 

All Federal lands and interests in lands within the boundaries described 

on the accompanying map are hereby appropriated and withdrawn from 

all forms of entry, location, selection, sale, leasing or other disposition 

under the public land laws, from location, entry, and patent under the 

mining laws, and from disposition under all laws relating to mineral and 

geothermal leasing. 

The establishment of the monument is subject to valid existing rights. Lands 

and interests in lands not owned or controlled by the Federal Government 

within the boundaries described on the accompanying map shall be reserved 

as a part of the monument, and objects identified above that are situated 

upon those lands and interests in lands shall be part of the monument, 

upon acquisition of ownership or control by the Federal Government. 

The Secretary of the Interior (Secretary) shall manage the monument through 

the National Park Service, pursuant to applicable legal authorities, consistent 

with the purposes and provisions of this proclamation. The Secretary shall 

prepare a management plan for the monument, with full public involvement, 

within 3 years of the date of this proclamation. The management plan 

shall ensure that the monument fulfills the following purposes for the benefit 

of present and future generations: (1) to preserve and protect the objects 

of historic interest associated with Honouliuli Internment Camp, and (2) 

to study and interpret the history of World War II internment and detention 

in Hawai’i. The management plan shall set forth the desired relationship 


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11072 Federal Register / Vol. 80, No. 39 / Friday, February 27, 2015 / Presidential Documents 

of the monument to other related resources, programs, and organizations 

associated with World War II internment, detention, and exclusion. 

The National Park Service shall use available authorities, as appropriate, 

to enter into agreements to provide for access to the monument. The National 

Park Service shall also use available authorities, as appropriate, to enter 

into agreements with governmental and nongovernmental organizations to 

provide for research, preservation, interpretation, and education at Honouliuli 

and additional sites associated with World War II internment in Hawai’i 

and exclusion elsewhere. The National Park Service shall also coordinate 

management with World War II Valor in the Pacific National Monument, 

which commemorates the broader story of the war in the Pacific and its 

impacts on Hawai’i. 

Nothing in this proclamation shall be deemed to revoke any existing withdrawal, reservation, or appropriation; however, the monument shall be the 

dominant reservation. 

Warning is hereby given to all unauthorized persons not to appropriate, 

injure, destroy, or remove any feature of this monument and not to locate 

or settle upon any of the lands thereof. 

IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand this twenty-fourth 

day of February, in the year of our Lord two thousand fifteen, and of 

the Independence of the United States of America the two hundred and 

thirty-ninth. 

Billing code 3295–F5–P 


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Federal Register / Vol. 80, No. 39 / Friday, February 27, 2015 / Presidential Documents 11073 

[FR Doc. 2015–04352 

Filed 2–26–15; 11:15 am] 

Billing code 4310–10–C 


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Legend 

c:::J Unit Boundary 

~ Federal Land 

c::J Non-Federal Land 

_ _ _ _ Access Road (Controlled) 

(Temporary Location) 

OFFICE: Lands Resources Program Center 

REGION: Pacific West N 

TOTAL ACREAGE: +/-155 Acres 

MAP NUMBER: 680/127,226 

DATE: February 2015 

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