The process of getting Amache under the National Park Service umbrella involved years of effort. It means more funding for preservation in the short term. But no matter who administers the site, everyone involved hopes the survivors — and their stories — stay front and center.

It started with a teacher who saw an opportunity to do a living history project and wound up volunteering to keep up the site at Amache for 30 years. Today, historians, survivors and archaeologists are fighting to preserve the history.

The internment of Japanese Americans during World War II is something many don’t know about. The descendants of those imprisoned at Amache are sharing their family stories and helping to shed light on this dark period in history.