BOISE, Idaho — Monday marks 82 years since President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed Executive Order 9066. That action led to the incarceration of more than 120,000 citizens of Japanese ancestry.
It's not a day to celebrate, but certainly one to remember.
On the anniversary of the order, Governor Brad Little signed a proclamation for the Day of Remembrance.
Executive Order 9066 created 10 incarceration camps, including one in Idaho. The Minidoka War Relocation Center was a camp that held more than 13,000 Japanese-Americans.
Several people who were incarcerated at those camps joined the governor for the Day of Remembrance proclamation. While they were very young when incarcerated during World War II, those memories have lingered for a lifetime.
Jane Gunter was one of the survivors at the proclamation. She was incarcerated at the Tulelake Camp in California when she was an infant. During the proclamation, she talked about her mom - and how she must have felt when they were taken to the camp.
"In only one week, she was stripped of all of her possessions, her furniture, and her home," Gunter said. "It was hard to fathom what was in her mind and in her broken heart. She was facing a dark and unknown future. What dreadful fate awaited her husband, her children, and herself."
The survivors said that period of history is worth remembering, and making sure future generations know about.
This is the 22nd year the governor's office has held the ceremony, making it the longest-running statehouse Day of Remembrance ceremony in the country.
"It is such a lesson about what happens when political sentiment starts rolling over the fundamentals of our Declaration of Independence," Governor Little said. "It has happened multiple times, but I don't think there's any bigger example than Executive Order 9066."
Executive Order 9066 was signed 10 weeks after the bombing or Pearl Harbor. It authorized the military to remove Japanese-Americans living in the west coast from their homes. The 10 incarceration camps were scattered from Arkansas to California.
Minidoka officially closed in October 1945. Executive Order 9066 was officially rescinded in 1976.
The site of Idaho's incarceration camp has been turned into the Minidoka National Historic Site, which commemorates the 13,000 who were incarcerated there.
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