DESTINATIONS: Lewis Army Museum

DESTINATIONS: Lewis Army Museum

By David Yamaguchi
NAP Contributor

Like many a native Seattleite, I have driven past the Lewis Army Museum for years. On the right shoulder of southbound Interstate-5 between Tacoma and Olympia, Washington, it beckoned me, mainly because my late father (Kay Yamaguchi) did his post World War II army service there (1945-1946). I felt that visiting the museum might help me understand more about this chapter of his life.

More broadly, Fort Lewis played a role in the lives of Northwest Japanese-American soldiers returning from the Pacific not only from WWII but also from Korea, Vietnam, and later conflicts. What comes across from the museum’s exhibits is that they present the perspectives of common soldiers – those fighting for and against the U.S.

Museum docent Thomas Morgan aided my visit. His father had been a commander on a train from the Northwest carrying “Japanese women and children to Arkansas”. These would have been people destined for the Rohwer or Jerome incarceration camps. Morgan’s father remembered them as “the best behaved people.”

Significantly, the career-soldier son Thomas recognized the whole Japanese American incarceration decision as a U.S. government mistake.

Accessing the Museum
Getting to the museum is “more difficult than it used to be,” according to Morgan. “It used to be accessible directly from I-5.” The key point is NOT to enter any Joint Base Lewis-McChord guarded gates but instead take I-5 exit 119 onto DuPont-Steilacoom Road. From there, one turns right again onto an unsigned paved road which takes you to the locked gate leading to the museum.

Accessing Lewis Army Museum:
Without entering Joint Base Lewis-McChord by car, one approaches the museum by foot from the west side. When arriving at a locked gate (above), telephone the museum and a soldier will arrive to escort you further (bottom).