Honouliuli tour revisits WWII internment camp history in Hawaii

Eighty years after the closure of the Honouliuli Internment Camp, the former incarceration site in West Oahu is attracting renewed interest as visitors aim to learn about a lesser-known chapter of Hawaii's World War II history, the Honolulu Star-Advertiser reported.

The Honouliuli National Historic Site, managed by the National Park Service, was once the largest and longest-running prisoner-of-war and incarceration site in the Hawaiian Islands. At its peak, it held about 4,000 prisoners of war from Japanese, Korean, Okinawan, Italian, and Filipino backgrounds, as well as over 400 U.S. civilians, mostly Japanese American, the article said.

Tours led by Honouliuli National Historic Site Superintendent Christine Ogura include historical photos and explanations of the camp's landscape and structures, such as guard posts and prisoner tents. These tours are the only way to visit the site and are limited to 26 people per session, with more than 1,000 currently on the waitlist.

The National Park Service began offering free public tours this year and depends on volunteers to guide visitors. Officials hope to increase tour availability as volunteer numbers grow. Ogura emphasized that sharing this history aligns with the site's congressional founding purpose.

The Honouliuli site is closely connected to the December 7, 1941, attack on Pearl Harbor, linking it to the broader context of wartime events in Hawaii, the report noted.