| Original caption: “Japanese in or near trucks during Relocation.” Incarcerated Japanese Americans in Arkansas outside the camp perimeter to cut down Red Oak trees for firewood. Note that the larger truck, an Army-issue vehicle, carries men, while the smaller pickup carries women. The Rohwer Relocation Center was located 12 miles northeast of McGehee and comprised 10,161 acres, half of which remained under the swampy waters of Coon Bayou bottoms during the spring. center’s 3 years of operation, from September 18, 1942, to November 30, 1945, the peak population of Japanese internees reached 8,475. Only 26 miles south by rail from Rohwer and 8 miles south of the small farming town of Dermott, the Jerome Center encompassed 10,054 acres situated between the Big and Crooked Bayous. In operation only 634 days, from October 6, 1942, to June 30, 1944, Jerome held 8,497 internees at its peak. None of the residential buildings initially had plumbing or running water and the sole method of heating during the winters was by wood stoves. “We had to go into chop wood,” remembered Mary Tsukamoto (January 17, 1915 – January 6, 1998) of Jerome War Relocation Center in Arkansas. “All the men stopped everything; school, everything, was closed and the young people were told to go out and work. They brought the wood in, and the women helped saw it. Then, of course, we can stoop so low as human get greedy and selfish. People started to hoard wood. There wouldn’t be enough for some people.” What proved to be a constant problem in the centers was adequate amounts of firewood for the large camp populations. Japanese were not skilled in felling trees and the soggy, lands often thwarted their best efforts. Fuel shortages often occurred; injury was commonplace; 1 man died of injuries in January 1943 at Rohwer. The time collecting firewood inhibited other activities; the September 1944 Rohwer Report indicated that not enough Japanese American staff were available at the camp, and those that were acceptable had to dedicate 2 days a week to lumberjacking. A fortnightly ritual at the Rohwer internment camp during the winter was the log-cutting projects in all blocks. Every block had a log-cutting day and every able-bodied adult pitched in to help saw, carry and stack the logs. The cut wood was fired in pot-bellied stoves to keep the living quarters warm during winter. The logs were cut and split into short lengths and were burned in potbellied stoves to heat the living quarters of the internees during the cold winters of Arkansas. With a limited supply of the log-cutting equipment, the gas-powered circular saws were rotated among the blocks, and when the call went out to the block for its day of log-cutting, all able-bodied men and women turned out to help. Later, it was claimed by internees that community spirit was never higher in camp than when it came time for the block to cut its share of the logs for firewood. By the end of 1944, block managers were withheld from firewood distribution; they were acting “clannish” and the resource was pooled and shared with everyone according to need instead of by block. The strongest men and boys carried and cut the logs, and the women stacked the cut firewood in 5-foot high rows. It was a tough and dirty work including rough splinters, snagged fingernails and a multitude of cuts and bruises on the arms and hands. It was usually an all-day job with the circular saw loudly whining away as the logs were cut. Wearing large neckerchiefs to cover their mouths and noses, the men took turns at the machine in what seemed like a never-ending stream of logs. While some of the logs were cut by internee lumberjacks from the nearby woods, most of the logs were delivered to the Rohwer camp by outside contractors since it took a lot of logs to keep more than 8,500 people warm. The Rohwer Outpost, the camp newspaper, reported on the firewood situation frequently. The September 29, 1943, expressed the hope that the shortage of lumberjacks could be resolved when seasonal workers returned and women replaced men on the farms. 5 truckloads of wood could be cut with “the present crew.” Transfers from the Tule Lake Relocation Center were given firewood upon arrival, according to the October 6, 1943, issue. In the January 8, 1944, issue, the Outpost reported 400 loads were cut in 3 days, despite flooding preventing the use of trucks; mules carried the wood out. It was not until late 1944 when the Rohwer camp switched over to coal. Until then, coal was used only for the hospital’s large furnace, heating water for each block’s wash and bath rooms, and for the big ranges in the mess halls to prepare food. By then, Jerome was closed after disharmony over the loyalty pledge, and the camps merged. James E. Ichinaga (March 17, 1930 – March 29, 2022) recalled that at Jerome, “The first month of camp life brought on new challenges. There was a shortage of firewood and the men would go into the forest to cut trees and haul it back using mules and wagons. I can still visualize ‘pairs’ of our block’s residents sawing wood with huge saws that had handles on both ends.” Fred F. Shimasaki (born August 6, 1924) recalled that at Jerome, “On our weekends off, we were required to go into the forest to chop down firewood since we didn’t have the luxury of coal for fuel at camp. We chopped trees to about 6-foot logs and took them back to camp. Ladies would take 2-handed saws and cut those logs into 12- to 18-inch logs. Those chopped into 2/2 would fit into our stoves. My brother Sam and I would wheelbarrow the cut firewood to the doorsteps of other families without men, so the women wouldn’t have to go to the middle of camp to get a few themselves. Our block manager, who was Hawaiian, gave the block of Hawaiian families our firewood. It was irritating. | |
| Image Filename | wwii1705.jpg |
| Image Size | 691.55 KB |
| Image Dimensions | 2936 x 2147 |
| Photographer | |
| Photographer Title | Franklin D. Roosevelt Library |
| Caption Author | Written or Adapted by Jason McDonald |
| Date Photographed | January 1, 1943 |
| Location | Rohwer War Relocation Center |
| City | Rohwer |
| State or Province | Desha County |
| Country | Arkansas |
| Archive | National Archives and Records Administration |
| Record Number | NLR-PHOCO-A-74201352 |
| Status | Caption ©2026 MFA Productions LLC Please Do Not Duplicate or Distribute Without Permission; Image in the Public Domain |
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