By J.K. YAMAMOTO, Rafu Staff Writer
TORRANCE — The Torrance City Council, at its Jan. 23 meeting, started the process of receiving state funds for the construction of the World War II Camp Wall.
The monument, to be constructed in Columbia Park on the corner of 190thStreet and Prairie Avenue, will consist of walls containing the names of 125,000 Japanese Americans who were incarcerated by the U.S. government during World War II.
Last April, the City Council endorsed the project and approved Columbia Park as the site of the monument.
Assemblymember Al Muratsuchi (D-Torrance) has secured $5 million in state funding for the wall, which is scheduled for completion by Feb. 1, 2026.
On the recommendation of City Manager Aram Chaparyan and Community Services Director John La Rock, the City Council unanimously voted to approve the grant agreement with the California Natural Resources Agency. Present at the meeting were Mayor George Chen, Mayor Pro Tem Jon Kaji, and Councilmembers Bridgett Lewis, Asam Sheikh, Sharon Kalani, Aurelio Mattucci and Mike Griffiths.
“I’m very much looking forward to this project being completed,” said Kalani.
Lewis thanked the WWII Camp Wall representatives present “for all of the hard work and dedication that you’ve done to bring this to fruition.”
The city will advance the project by working with the WWII Camp Wall board in soliciting professional services to manage, design, and build the memorial.
The mayor will name three members of a five-member advisory committee for the project at a later date. The other members have been appointed by Assembly Speaker Robert Rivas (D-Salinas) and State Senate President Pro Tem Mike McGuire (D-Santa Rosa).
The Assembly appointee is Nancy Hayata, World War II Camp Wall board president. The Senate appointee is Priscilla Ouchida, State Senate legislative director and former JACL national director.
“I have been reaching out to some individuals in the community who I believe could serve on the advisory committee, but I’m still waiting to find out what their response is,” Kaji said.
Melissa Ramoso, Muratsuchi’s district director, thanked the city for its support.
“As you have seen in your chambers in the past, there is strong support as well from your residents and the Japanese American community,” she said, adding, “Know that the assemblymember will continue to support this project as one of his top priorities.”
Hayata introduced Torrance resident Kanji Sahara, noting, “It was his concept, his idea, his dream to build this monument.”
Sahara was incarcerated in the Jerome and Rohwer camps in Arkansas during the war. His granddaughters Kristen Tang and Kaitlyn Tang are serving on the board as vice president and treasurer, respectively.
“We’d like to thank the assemblymember for finding funding for us and the City of Torrance for taking this project on,” Hayata said. “I know it’s huge. This is a national monument. It’s the first of its kind. It’s the first time that one monument is going to have all the names of all the people that were incarcerated in the United States during World War II.”
The goal is for the public to “realize the mass injustice that was done,” she explained.
Also speaking on behalf of the project was Ivan Mandic, who first learned about the WWII Camp Wall at the Bunka-Sai Japanese Cultural Festival in Torrance last year. He said that the wall “will impact many of those who visit in different ways … simply by viewing all of the names … [They will] certainly get a sense of the vast number of people that were affected by these tragic events.”
The monument will unite “past generations, the present and future generations” in recognizing “this very important history lesson,” Mandic said.
Kaji said after the meeting that he was “extremely pleased” about the state funding.
“It is significant for the City of Torrance to serve as the site for this important memorial, commemorating the individuals whose civil rights were violated because of racism and wartime hysteria,” he added. “Torrance has the largest population of Japanese Americans and Japanese expatriates in California. Both of my parents and their family members were incarcerated in federal concentration camps located in Manzanar, Calif. and Poston, Ariz. Beyond the loss of homes, businesses and property were the psychological trauma inflicted by the incarceration.
“I look forward to supporting the World War II Camp Wall and ensuring that it will educate future generations on the importance of protecting the civil rights of all Americans.”
For more information on the project, go to: www.wwiicampwall.org