Merced Fairgrounds Japanese Amer. WWII Detainment Camp Memorial

A vehicle for rememberance; The Japanese-​American Detainment Camp Memorial at Merced County Fairgrounds. Its’ point of focus could be the life-​size statue of a little girl, sitting atop her family’s luggage; sitting atop everything her family could gather before being taken to a foreign land within their own homeland. Or your eyes might fixate on the large cast bronze plaques on the memorial wall, which contain the names of over 4000 Amercians who were imprisoned.
This memorial site is definitely worth visiting, and unlike many museums and exhibits, the admission to this venue is only your willingness to turn off highway 99 and drive less than five minutes from the off-​ramp at MLK Boulevard. It’s well worth your time. And it’s a bit of history that might have been forgotten, had it not been for volunteers, contributors and those who couldn’t forget.
The gates of the Merced Fairgrounds are open. There’s no charge to enter, and the memorial is only a couple minutes past the main entrance on your left. Take a look at the pictures I’ve posted, and when you visit, think about the over 4000 names of men, women and children, cast into the bronze plaques on the wall. These were American citizens whose lives were put on hold, while our country grappled with the irony of believing it necessary to contain many of our most patriotic citizens. This memorial represents the essence of the «human dilema.»