Until a few years ago, most Americans had never heard of this WWII internment camp site not far from Pearl Harbor. And then in 2015 Honouliuli made headlines when President Obama designated the place a National Monument, exercising the authority granted to him by the Antiquities Act.

Almost lost forever to the jungle, this historic site of conscience will, according to the Presidential Proclamation protecting it, ultimately serve “as a powerful reminder of the need to protect civil liberties in times of conflict, and the effects of martial law on civil society.”

Motivated by a request in the late 1990s from local media inquiring about its location, Japanese Cultural Center of Hawai’i (JCCH) volunteers began a four-year search for the Honouliuli site, ultimately rediscovering it in 2002. When Monsanto acquired a roughly 2,300-acre agricultural plot in 2007, it knew the land included remnants of the internment camp site and pledged to work with the community to help preserve and protect it. That same year, the National Trust for Historic Preservation provided a grant to fund an archaeological survey of the area.

The survey, suggests JCCH President and Executive Director Carole Hayashino, would not have been possible without close collaboration among JCCH; the former landowner, Campbell Estate; and the new landowner, Monsanto Hawai’i.

“Archaeologists,” says Hayashino, “discovered a few standing buildings, concrete foundations, rock walls, remnants of a fence and a historic aqueduct on the site.” Additional field work and written reports were completed between 2008 and 2012, culminating with the 2012 addition of Honouliuli to the National Register of Historic Places.