Paul Bannai oral history interview, part 5 of 8, September 15, 2002
Paul Takao Bannai's political career starts in 1972 when he is elected to Gardena City Council. Later, in 1973, he is elected to California State Legislature with the help of President Reagan and the widow of an Assemblyman. Paul is the first Japanese American elected to the California State Legislature. He runs for four terms in the Assembly.
In 1980, Paul is invited to come to Washington DC and is hired as Executive Director of the Commission on Wartime Relocation and Internment of Civilians (CWRIC). Paul hires Nisei staff members to help him. One of the tasks of Paul's job is to have hearings throughout the different places of the United States. He asks several Japanese American organizations, one of them is the Japanese American Citizens League, to help gather Japanese Americans to share their experience about evacuation.
Paul has hearings across the United States which leads to the report. He explains why his name is not on the report because he is an evacuee and spends time at Manzanar. Therefore, an attorney is hired to write the report. With the report, the Congressional Senate, and Congress, Paul can subpoena anyone he wants. Paul wants to subpoena the people who made the decisions for evacuation, such as General DeWitt.
After Congress reads the report, Congress recommends reparations be given, and the head of the Government would officially apologize. Later, President Reagan asks Paul to stay to run the Veterans Administration. Pauls knows a lot about veterans and the help they need from his wartime experiences. When Paul retires, he recalls President Reagan giving him a customize belt buckle.
Paul stays busy during his retirement volunteering at the Veterans and Foreign War and Disable American Veterans. He says it is important to help others. Pauls discusses the morals and values passed on to him by his Issei parents, and he passes the same teachings to his children. Paul has three children and five grandchildren.
<a href="/items/browse?advanced%5B0%5D%5Belement_id%5D=39&advanced%5B0%5D%5Btype%5D=is+exactly&advanced%5B0%5D%5Bterms%5D=Bannai%2C+Paul%3A+narrator">Bannai, Paul: narrator</a>
<a href="/items/browse?advanced%5B0%5D%5Belement_id%5D=39&advanced%5B0%5D%5Btype%5D=is+exactly&advanced%5B0%5D%5Bterms%5D=Nakaishi%2C+Russell%3A+interviewer">Nakaishi, Russell: interviewer</a>
<a href="/items/browse?advanced%5B0%5D%5Belement_id%5D=39&advanced%5B0%5D%5Btype%5D=is+exactly&advanced%5B0%5D%5Bterms%5D=Go+For+Broke+National+Education+Center%3A+publisher">Go For Broke National Education Center: publisher</a>
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2002OH0307_05_Bannai
Don Miyada oral history interview, part 2 of 4, November 22, 2014
After Pearl Harbor, Executive Order 9066 is issued and calls for the evacuations of Japanese Americans. Don describes the preparation his family makes before going to Poston, Arizona. At Poston, Don outlines life at camp and the living conditions of the barracks.
Don receives an opportunity to go to Idaho to work on a sugar beet farm and eventually moves to Detriot, Michigan, for employment. In 1944, Don is drafted and goes to Fort Sharedon in Flordia to be inducted into the Army. Then he goes to basic training at Camp Blanding for 17 weeks.
In this interview, Don shares he has two high school diplomas. One from 1942 and 2014.
<a href="/items/browse?advanced%5B0%5D%5Belement_id%5D=39&advanced%5B0%5D%5Btype%5D=is+exactly&advanced%5B0%5D%5Bterms%5D=Miyada%2C+Don%3A+narrator">Miyada, Don: narrator</a>
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2014OH1074_02_Miyada
Patrick Aki oral history interview, part 4 of 5, February 25, 2011
<a href="/items/browse?advanced%5B0%5D%5Belement_id%5D=49&advanced%5B0%5D%5Btype%5D=is+exactly&advanced%5B0%5D%5Bterms%5D=World+War+II--Medical+care">World War II--Medical care</a>
<a href="/items/browse?advanced%5B0%5D%5Belement_id%5D=49&advanced%5B0%5D%5Btype%5D=is+exactly&advanced%5B0%5D%5Bterms%5D=Industry+and+employment">Industry and employment</a>
<a href="/items/browse?advanced%5B0%5D%5Belement_id%5D=49&advanced%5B0%5D%5Btype%5D=is+exactly&advanced%5B0%5D%5Bterms%5D=World+War+II--Prisoners+and+prisons">World War II--Prisoners and prisons</a>
Aki continues to talk about his experiences as a prisoner of war while in Japan. Towards the end of the war, he noticed that a lot of weird things were happening with the Japanese Army guards and that the POWs were taken out of work. He overheard that Japan had surrendered and that there would be an airlift available in Kagoshima. He would escape the camp and make his way to Kagoshima, taking trains that were packed and noticing that Japanese civilians seemed scared of them, and seeing the devastation of Japan from the bombings. Once he made it there, he would have a spoon of ice cream and a Coca-Cola and get ready for his journey back to the United States. They would stop first in Okinawa, getting repatriated and then getting on another boat headed for San Francisco before finally making it back to Hawaii. Once returned to Kauai, he would begin working at a police station as a clerk typist. He would be forced to enter the draft and would end up joining the Air Force. In order to avoid being in the Korean War, he would end up going to occupied Japan.
<a href="/items/browse?advanced%5B0%5D%5Belement_id%5D=39&advanced%5B0%5D%5Btype%5D=is+exactly&advanced%5B0%5D%5Bterms%5D=Aki%2C+Patrick%3A+narrator">Aki, Patrick: narrator</a>
<a href="/items/browse?advanced%5B0%5D%5Belement_id%5D=39&advanced%5B0%5D%5Btype%5D=is+exactly&advanced%5B0%5D%5Bterms%5D=Hawkins%2C+Richard%3A+interviewer">Hawkins, Richard: interviewer</a>
<a href="/items/browse?advanced%5B0%5D%5Belement_id%5D=39&advanced%5B0%5D%5Btype%5D=is+exactly&advanced%5B0%5D%5Bterms%5D=Go+For+Broke+National+Education+Center%3A+publisher">Go For Broke National Education Center: publisher</a>
<a href="/items/browse?advanced%5B0%5D%5Belement_id%5D=39&advanced%5B0%5D%5Btype%5D=is+exactly&advanced%5B0%5D%5Bterms%5D=US+Army+Center+of+Military+History%3A+sponsor">US Army Center of Military History: sponsor</a>
<a href="/items/browse?advanced%5B0%5D%5Belement_id%5D=48&advanced%5B0%5D%5Btype%5D=is+exactly&advanced%5B0%5D%5Bterms%5D=Go+For+Broke+National+Education+Center">Go For Broke National Education Center</a>
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video/m4v
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2011OH1032_04_Aki
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