Image by Chee Salette

"The purpose of the WWII Memorial Wall Project is to educate the public on the history and impact of the mass incarceration of Japanese Americans without due process during World War II...This project will be the first of its kind in the United States."

-City of Torrance

• July 21, 2021 - State of California Assemblyman Muratsuchi secures $5 million in state funding for the WWII Camp Wall project.
• 2023 - The WWII Camp Wall incorporated and formed a 501(c)3 nonprofit.
• April 25, 2023 - Torrance City Council unanimously approved the proposal to take on the construction of the World War II Camp Wall monument.
• Fall 2026 - The City of Torrance anticipates groundbreaking to take place.

WWII Camp Wall Historical Background

On land now owned by developers, there is a section that was previously a golf course. It was also a Department of Justice (DOJ) camp, a civilian detention center that interned immigrants of Japanese, German, Italian and Peruvian Japanese descent. Located north of Los Angeles in the Sunland Tujunga area, the Tuna Canyon Detention Station Coalition (TDCSC) nonprofit is trying to secure some or all of that land to put up a monument/dedication to those that were held there from December 1941 to October 1943. Founder of the organization, Lloyd Hitt started to compile a list of detainees at Tuna Canyon over the years, and board member Dr. Russ Endo took over the task of continuing to complete that list.

The site of Tuna Canyon Detention Station where "Only the Oaks Remain".
Photo by Nancy Hayata

In 2019, it looked as though TCDSC might be able to obtain some land, and Dr. Endo suggested putting  the 2000 Tuna Canyon detainee names on a wall at the golf course site. That list of names can be found here, https://www.tunacanyon.org/names-of-detainees/

Kanji then went on to state that there should be walls for each of the War Relocation Authority (WRA) camps and later added inclusion of the Department of Justice (DOJ)/Army camps so that everyone that was in camp would have their name on the monument.

When TCDSC was not able to obtain land, Kanji didn't skip a beat. He met with everyone that he could, did countless presentations and went full force seeking funding to make this monument happen somewhere. Board members from TCDSC backed him wholeheartedly  and the project branched off from the endeavors of Tuna Canyon.

Building a Foundation

Kanji was not only seeking funding, he was also exploring design concepts and location for the monument. The initial conceptual designs came voluntarily from Gregg Maedo of Maedo+Associates https://www.gmaarch.com/. 

Image by Gregg Maedo

One of the first concepts was circular and was well received. There would be a cherry blossom tree in the center, and once inside the circular wall, you could see the huge scope of all of the names from a single vantage point. This design, however, presented problems for the city to provide security for.

The WWII Camp Wall chose the following concept of the monument to use in their proposal to the City of Torrance. It was to sit atop the hill at the corner of Prairie and 190th at Columbia Park.

Image by Roger Yanagita

In order to complete a cost estimate for the proposal, Sandra Ichiho of Hensel Phelps https://www.henselphelps.com/changing-the-face-of-construction-sandra-ichiho/ burned the midnight and also worked voluntarily for "community".

Roger Yanagita assisted the WWII Camp Wall in creating renderings of Gregg Maedo's design for inclusion in our proposal to the City of Torrance.

Kevin Curran of Project: Entasis brought everything together and helped to format the proposal for the City.

Location and Design

On April 25, 2023, the WWIICW went before the Torrance City Council and they voted unanimously to take on the construction of the monument at Columbia Park.