Featured image: The Rohwer detention campsite includes one monument resembling a military tank. It honors young Japanese Americans from the Rohwer camp who lost their lives while serving the U.S. in Europe.
Some vacancies still exist for the upcoming monthly activities of The Adventure First Travel Club of First Community Bank.
On Thursday, June 22, the group will visit the World War II Japanese American Internment Museum at McGehee, Ark., to learn about the 127,000 Japanese Americans who were detained and incarcerated at ten prison camps in the U.S. after the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, in 1941.
Two of the so-called “relocation centers” held more than 17,000 Japanese Americans at Rohwer and Jerome, two small communities in southeast Arkansas. The June 22 tour will include the site of the camp at Rohwer, with its monuments and cemetery that have been declared a National Historic Landmark. The internment camp at Jerome is virtually lost to history.
Later that day, the Travel Club will be transported even farther back in time with a stop at Arkansas Post, first settled in 1686 and the first and most significant European establishment in Arkansas. Members and guests will also visit the Arkansas Post National Memorial, a 757-acre protected area with a museum that has been a state park since 1929.
A comprehensive three-day visit to St. Louis on July 17-19 will be topped off by major league baseball with the St. Louis Cardinals. This tour will also include tours of Grant’s Farm, the St. Louis Zoo, the Missouri Botanical Gardens, the Missouri History Museum, and more. The tour costs $665 per person (double occupancy) or $940 per person for singles and includes hotel, some meals, and transportation.
On Aug. 15, the Travel Club will tour the just-opened Arkansas Museum of Fine Arts in Little Rock. The reconstructed facility offers an inspiring array of visual, performing arts, and educational experiences. The museum is an inclusive cultural space to engage with diverse artistic perspectives through its 14,000-objects permanent collection, temporary exhibitions, theatre, and enriching courses.
The monuments, memorials, and cemetery on the Japanese American “Relocation Center” site at Rohwer have been designated as a National Historic Landmark. / Images submitted
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