Great housing opportunities were found especially in the agricultural world, but a large percentage of the evacuees preferred to remain in the housing installations, because they already had a settled home at the camp, and they feared if they went back to California they would have nothing to go back to. Upon separation from the camp each received twenty-five dollars and a transportation ticket east. Japan was defeated September 4, 1945, and the western defense command voided all individual exclusion orders, and on September 14, the exclusion order rescinded WD:1 and WD: 2, that had set up the exclusion zones.
The last of the evacuees were asked to leave Amache October 15, 1945, exactly on schedule. On January 27, 1946, all facilities were sold and
Amache was officially closed. About 2,000 people from Amache remained in Colorado, which speaks well for the state of Colorado in terms of discrimination. Today Colorado has 1.5% of the national total of Japanese-Americans. A majority of the Japanese returned to California, their home.
The government gave many of them job opportunities, but all the evacuees had was a ticket east two of the most popular places people went were Chicago, Illinois, and New York City, New York, but after the camp completely closed the Japanese-Americans were able to go back to California. When the Japanese arrived, there was nothing left, all of their homes and businesses had been destroyed or vandalized. It took the Japanese many years to get going again. On August 10, 1988, a sum of 20,000 dollars was given to any eligible Japanese-American still living.
Houses and buildings at Amache were sold or bulldozed into a large pit. Today there are monuments, and about seventy signs depicting where things were, or once stood. All of the roads can be traveled on. In 1966 Hillcrest homes were built on the northeast corner of Amache close to where the hospital was. Other than that Amache has remained undisturbed.
| It was during the second election that Roosevelt agreed to let most of the Japanese return home. It was during this time that most of the families were being reunited, and on December 17, 1944, the war department announced that the West Coast exclusion order would be lifted, but would not be effective until January 2, 1945. On December 17, the WRA announced that all of the camps would be closed in six months to a year. Each center was to be given three months notice before closure. After December 17, control of the evacuees was given to the army; the WRA had little to say from then on. There were still 79,770 Japanese people left in the centers at the beginning of the evacuation, Director Myer thought the, "Half never had it so good." At Hunters Point the WRA transferred funds to the Federal Public Housing Authority to convert the dormitories to family units for the 117 families remaining before it closed its doors on May 15, 1946. In southern California efforts to move families into individual units met with less success. | |