Amache Cemetery

This monument was erected in 1945 to honor those who died there.

DOI/WRA image

In the southwest corner of Amache National Historic Site is the original cemetery and monument house. Established between 1942 and 1945 when the area was Granada War Relocation Center, the cemetery includes 11 grave plots, ten with markers and one without. According to WRA records, 106 deaths occurred at Amache, although many remains were voluntarily removed after Amache’s closure in 1945. 

A brick memorial building stands in the northwest corner of the cemetery. originally built to be a columbarium, or a place to store cremated remains. It was never used as intended since the Japanese did not want the ashes to be left or forgotten. Instead, in 1945 as people were being relocated and released, a three-piece memorial was designed by Rev. Masahiko Wada and a memorial committee. In the building, a granite stone honors those who passed away in Amache and is etched in English and Japanese. Above the stone, the names and family information of the people who passed away in Amache and the names of the 31 Japanese American soldiers whose families were incarcerated here is etched in Japanese on a wooden panel. A gold star shield honoring the 31 soldiers hung on the east wall. The people incarcerated at Amache etched the granite stone, wood memorial salutation, and gold star shield memorial.

Today, only the stone remains. Prior to organized preservation at Amache, the memorial house was broken into. The wooden memorial honoring those who died in Amache was saved from burning and is on loan to the Japanese American National Museum in Los Angeles, California. The gold star Honor Roll shield is missing. In 1983, a second memorial inscribed with US military casualties from Amache was erected at the cemetery by the Denver Central Optimists Club. It is large concrete obelisk with a memorial salutation on the front and the Amache Honor Roll names on the east and west sides.

Many visitors and relatives of the deceased continue to leave offering and memorabilia at the cemetery. Although the offerings and memorabilia left at the cemetery are contemporary and ongoing, they also have potential historical significance. The National Park Service recognizes that many of the offerings and memorabilia left at the cemetery are worthy of collection and preservation.

Since its closure in 1945, the Granada War Relocation Center Cemetery has remained a place of reflection, worship, pilgrimages, protest, and a place to reach out to share an experience with strangers.