EVERGREEN, Colo. — Ninety-four-year-old Bob Fuchigami, a survivor of the Amache internment camp in southern Colorado, has died.
Fuchigami spent his life working to preserve the history of Amache and the physical buildings that still stand on the site.
Following Fuchigami's passing, Colorado Congressman Joe Neguse and Senator Michael Bennet released the below joint statement:
“We were deeply saddened to hear of the passing of Bob Fuchigami, a dear friend and an inspirational advocate.
“Bob was just eleven years old when his family was ordered to leave their home in California with no explanation of their destination and sent to the Granada Relocation Center on the Eastern Plains of Colorado, known as Amache. At such a young age, he was victim to one of the darkest scars in our country’s history—the unconscionable incarceration of Japanese Americans.
“After surviving Amache, Bob served our nation in the U.S. Navy, and then dedicated much of his adult life to ensuring the story of his family and others like them were never forgotten or repeated. We were honored to support him in this effort—standing by his side when visiting Amache in 2022 and celebrating with him when our work together designated Amache as a National Historic Site.
“We extend our deepest condolences to the entire Fuchigami family and to all those who knew and loved Bob, as we did. His grace, fortitude, and endless wisdom will leave a lasting legacy.”
In 1942, Americans of Japanese descent were forced from their homes and into 10 internment camps throughout small towns in the western part of the United States.
One was in Granada, Colorado.
It was officially called the Granada Relocation Center and later changed to Amache.
The Americans who were forced to live at Amache said it holds painful memories, Fuchigami told Denver7 in a 2021 interview.
“They didn’t tell us where we were going or what kind of conditions we were going to be in,” Fuchigami recalled. “We didn’t know where we were, except we knew we were in Colorado because they told us... We were loyal, patriotic Americans like everybody else, living ordinary lives. Then Pearl Harbor came along, and we were as surprised as anyone."
In the below Denver7 special from May 2021, we introduced you to Amache survivor Bob Fuchigami, and several others working to preserve this dark part of American and Colorado history.
For a while, life remained the same for Fuchigami until Feb. 19, 1942, when President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed Executive Order 9066, essentially authorizing the internment of thousands of Japanese Americans.
“The explanation they gave us was that it was a 'military necessity,'" Fuchigami told us. "Well, that’s a vague term, allowing them to do whatever they wanted to do. They gave us six days to get rid of everything we had, and it was hard to do. I mean, you have a lifetime accumulation of things."
At the age of 12, he was forced to go to Merced County Fairgrounds in Merced, California.
Over the pan of three years, he said the more than 7,000 Americans living in Camp Amache did what they could to form a community, building a school,
and recreation buildings. But tragedy struck in the camp too. His mother had a stroke. His father broke his back.
Camp Amache closed in 1945, leaving survivors like Fuchigami's family in need of a new home. They decided to settle in Greeley.
Fuchigami went on to join the U.S. Navy, and recalled giving a speech at Regis University where a student asked why he went to the Navy after everything the United States had done to him and his family.
"I said, 'That’s a good question. I’ve been thinking about that… This is my country, this is your country, this is our country and when your country needs you to fight, you answer,'” he responded.
In our 2021 interview, Fuchigami said he hopes the country honors the people who suffered at the internment camps on American soil.
Today, Amache is a National Historic Site within the National Park Service. It was established as such in February 2024 and the development of the site is ongoing as there are no facilities there currently.
Last May, a rose plant that was brought to the Denver Botanic Gardens from Amache bloomed for the first time. Watch our report on this special event below.