A memorial stands on Bainbridge Island as a reminder of the government's actions during World War II to separate Japanese Americans. On Saturday, volunteers cleaned the area around the site to prepare for its anniversary ceremony on March 30.

BAINBRIDGE ISLAND, Wash. — It was a busy Saturday for volunteers on Bainbridge Island who gathered for a work party at the Japanese American Exclusion Memorial. It's a national historic site that sits along the waterfront where hundreds of Japanese Americans were loaded on boats and taken away to be put in camps during World War II.

“We want it to be a call to action, and aspirational, let it not happen again," Clarence Moriwaki explained.

Volunteers put their heart into some hard work, cleaning up trails and an area around a memorial wall. It is about remembering and honoring those who went through it.

“Where we're standing right now is where the first Japanese-Americans were taken," he explained. “This wall is exactly 276 feet long, one foot for every Japanese American who lived on Bainbridge Island at the time of the war, we have all their names by family and six different images that tell their story.”

The stories remind visitors of a dark period “this memorial is the most powerful emotional experience I've had at a museum anywhere,” volunteer Michael Felts explained.

Felts says both the beautiful setting and the messages here deserve attention and he hopes cleaning up the site will help people take it all in.

“I hope it becomes real and emotional to people and they see the strength as well in the Japanese American communities," he said.

The goal is to have the site ready for a ceremony on March 30, the 77th anniversary of when Japanese Americans were loaded on boats here and taken to camps. It led to wounds that still haunt this community.

“When they know their country has apologized for this and the community comes together and builds this memorial on the site of the first forced memorial and they see how many people come and love it, they feel healed,” Moriwaki explained.