Documentary tells AJA soldiers' tales
By Wayne Harada
Advertiser Entertainment Writer
It started out as an oral history project. It became a personal journey and evolved into a documentary that sheds light on bravery amid persecution faced by three heroic components of World War II, the 100th Infantry Battalion, 442nd Regimental Combat Team and Military Intelligence Service.
After screenings in California, the documentary "A Tradition of Honor" will make its Hawai'i premiere Saturday at the Doris Duke at the Honolulu Academy of Arts.
"I started out with the Hanashi Oral History Program of the Go For Broke Educational Foundation (in California)," said Craig Yahata, 36, the film's co-producer and director. ("Hanashi" means "story.") California-born Yahata is a yonsei, or fourth-generation, Japanese American whose father is from Hilo and whose mother is from Kahului, Maui.
"I wanted to get involved in the project since my uncle (Mitsuo "Spider" Yahata) was in the 100th Battalion," said the one-time TV producer who worked on such hit shows as CBS' "Diagnosis Murder" and produced an award-winning documentary on homeless teens, "A Safe Place."
"I was able to talk to him, to get some insights on a personal level, to find out what he went through," Yahata said. "But he passed away before we finished the project."
Christine Sato-Yamazaki, 33, a film co-producer as well as the executive director of the Go For Broke Foundation, said it was vital to complete a film telling the story of the valiant AJA soldiers for a new generation growing up amid a new type of war.
The foundation is committed to making "A Tradition of Honor" part of the high school curriculum in Hawai'i, California and elsewhere, she said, specifically for juniors, so students will learn about a segment of history based on loyalty amid clouds of mistrust.
"We're gearing for 11th-graders and are preparing a teacher's guide to accompany the video," she said. "We hope to complete the guide by June, but we've already begun teacher training in California."
Capturing the emotions and stories of the war veterans was a daunting task, Yahata said. "We ended up with hours and hours of footage, and we picked out stories that were part of the veterans' stories we wanted to show in the film."
David Yoneshige, another co-producer, scoured the vaults at the National Archives to secure seldom-seen wartime images that make up a vital part of the film.
The interviewing process continues, said Sato-Yamazaki. "We currently have 330 interviews, and we hope to have 500 by the end of 2004." Eventually, a selection will be shared on the group's Web site, GoForBroke .org.
"These stories are touching," said Yahata, who did interviews himself. "What's unfortunate is that a number of them told us, 'You should have come five years ago,' when their memories were better. We have to preserve this firsthand knowledge." Interviews are conducted in nine regions, including Chicago, Seattle, Los Angeles and Hawai'i. "Half of the stories come from Hawai'i," said Sato-Yamazaki.
"The common thread is that these men fought in the war because it was their job as American citizens," said Yahata.
"Even if some of the men (or their relatives) were put into internment camps and discriminated against," Sato-Yamazaki added, "they had uncommon valor, and this is what being American is all about."
Yahata said the Hanashi program, with a pool of 90 volunteers, has done great work documenting the histories. "The hardest part of gathering the memories is the generation lost," he said. "You talk to the vets, and they talk about their parents, who had stories, too — but are gone."
