Tuesday, November 6, 2018

Arkansas History

Our adventures in Arkansas history continue to delight us.  Recently I discovered that Arkansas housed two Japanese internment camps during WWII, so when my friend Julie decided to come back for a visit, we knew that a trip to southeast Arkansas was in the plans.


Our first stop was the Japanese American Internment Museum in McGehee, where we added a visitor's pin to the Solomon Islands.  An excellent video resource is "Time of Fear", which provided a great foundation of information before we toured the small museum.  


We've just discovered "Relocation Arkansas:  Aftermath of Incarceration", and we're hoping to watch it very soon as a follow up to our field trip.


After we enjoyed a picnic lunch, we drove over to Rowher and the monuments that still remain.


The Rowher War Relocation Center would have been right next to this small cemetery.



The monuments stood in honor of the Japanese American soldiers who gave their lives to fight for the same America that was holding their families in isolation.


Aaron and I were both reminded of the Japanese Memorial and some of the war remnants we've seen in Honiara as we looked around this little spot currently nestled in between fields in Arkansas.


"May the people of Arkansas keep in beauty and reverence forever this ground where our bodies sleep."  I'm thankful that this place is respectfully preserved in memory.  


Ann and I are both planners, we find that thinking ahead smooths the path for us.  But leading up to this weekend, we both felt like we were panting and trying to catch our breath.  So when supper time rolled around, and we were still on the road, we decided that Julie needed a good taste of Southern culture.


Enter "The Bullpen" with its all-you-can-eat buffet, complete with catfish, hushpuppies, onion rings, frog legs, and banana pudding.  What a fun way to end a day that had been a little bit serious as we learned about some hard things.  So grateful for these ladies and their friendship!  On the way home, we even saw a huge meteor streak across the sky


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