M.P. Station, Guard Tower, Rail & Train Station

M.P. Station, Guard Tower, Rail and Train Station. . As you look through the site glass, to the left of the intersection of Highway 14A and Road 19 stood the Military Police complex and one of the guard towers. On the right side of Road 19 were the main gate and the train station. The Chicago, Burlington and Quincy tracks that are today used by the Burlington Northern Railroad brought the internees to this station, named Vocation, beginning in August 1942. The U.S. Supreme Court in December of 1944, ruled that continued detention as illegal and the last internees left in November 1945. , The U.S. Army 331st Escort Guard Company, consisting of 124 soldiers and three officers, guarded the relocation center until the end of 1944. Armed Military Police (MP's) patrolled the outer perimeter of the project and manned eight elevated guard towers located at regular intervals along the perimeter. The towers were equipped with high beam searchlights. , A ninth guard tower stood on a ridge northwest of the relocation center. Internees were not permitted outside the relocation center without a written permit. The MPs' checked all incoming and outgoing persons at the main gate. , The first internees arrived by rail on August 11, 1942, and by October the population of Heart Mountain surpassed 10,000. The train ride from California took an average of 4 days and 3 nights. For most of the trip shades were drawn, and no one was allowed to look outside. Armed guards were in every car. The long journey was especially hard on the elderly and handicapped and those with small children. At the Vocation rail station the internees found themselves in a barren and desolate place. Many internees had to walk up the hill to find their new homes, while trucks carried their luggage. Some were heard to say "shikata ga nai" or it can't be helped.