This is how a U.S. concentration camp opens:
“SEPTEMBER 11 (1942)
ADVANCE CONTINGENT — 214 volunteer workers arrived at Delta at 7:45 a.m. The first Business and get-acquainted meeting “between 14 leaders of the contingent and the administrative staff was held in the Afternoon.
“FIRST MASS MEET — The administrative personnel and the residents held their first mass meeting at the community hall in Block 3. A heart-to-heart talk ensued with the Project Director, Charles F. Ernst, giving the keynote talk. The impressive conference gave much impetus and hope to the residents of the Central Utah Relocation Project.Rev. Taro Goto, in his invocation, dedicated “this center to the glory of Almighty God and to the uplifting of His Kingdom.” The congregation gave the Pledge of Allegiance and sang “God Bless America.”
FIRST WORKER — Aya Endo was the first worker to be employed at 9 a.m.
VISITOR — Mr. Warner of the FBI, Salt Lake City, visited the Project.”
–Excerpt from the Daily Log of the WAR RELOCATION AUTHORITY Central Utah Relocation Project, Project Reports Division, Historical Section. Topaz, Utah.
To mark the 80th anniversary of the opening of the Topaz concentration camp, we will periodically share excerpts from the Topaz Daily Log.