Senate panel approves funds to preserve Japanese-American internment sites

Project to cost $4.2 million

June 21, 2000
Web posted at: 10:23 p.m. EDT (0223 GMT)

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- On the same day President Clinton awarded the Medal of Honor to almost two dozen Asian-American servicemen who fought in World War II, a Senate panel approved $4.2 million in funding to purchase, preserve and improve sites where Japanese-American were interned during the war.

The majority of the funds approved Wednesday by the Senate Interior Appropriations Subcommittee are to be used to build a visitor's center at Manzanar, a former Japanese-American internment camp located about 15 miles east of Death Valley National Park in California.

The visitor's center will provide information both about that site and about the entire internment period.

The remainder of the funds will be used to purchase other former internment sites as well the construction of other educational sites around the country and research into the consequences of the war.

The funding must still be approved by a full appropriations committee Thursday.

President Clinton Wednesday awarded the nation's highest military honor, the Medal of Honor, to 22 Asian-American World War II veterans.

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