WASHINGTON — President Barack Obama has signed a bill, introduced by U.S. Rep. Derek Kilmer, that changes the name of a Bainbridge Island memorial to Japanese-Americans forced from their homes during World War II.
The bill, which Kilmer introduced in the House of Representatives in May, changed the name of the National Historic Site from the Bainbridge Island Japanese-American Memorial to the Bainbridge Island Japanese-American Exclusion Memorial.
Kilmer, a Democrat living in Gig Harbor, represents the 6th Congressional District, which includes the North Olympic Peninsula.
Bainbridge groups — including the Bainbridge Island Japanese-American Community and the Japanese-American Exclusion Memorial Association — and residents had pushed for the renaming of the site, located at the former Eagledale ferry dock, to better reflect the history it commemorates.
It is the only national memorial to the internment of Japanese-Americans not located at a relocation center, according to Kilmer’s office.
Kilmer, who is challenged in the Nov. 4 general election for a second term by Republican challenger Marty McClendon of Gig Harbor, is one of only seven House freshman Democrats to get a bill signed into law this year, his office said, adding that 25 bills authored by Democrats in the House of Representatives have been signed into law this year.