| Time | Text |
|---|---|
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Hard Corps Battalion
00:02:21
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|
| It's not often I have a brigadier general on my show, to be honest. | |
| But Major General James Mukayama is my guest. | |
| He has written Faith, Family, and Flag. | |
| He was the first Asian American to, again, fill in the rest of the sentence. | |
| Command an Army Division. | |
| Command an Army Division. | |
| The subtitle is Memoirs of an Unlikely American Samurai Crusader. | |
| So the picture of you on the cover is of you in Vietnam. | |
| And what is the, what does it say on your helmet there? | |
| It says Hard Corps. | |
| Meaning, that was the nickname for the battalion that I served in in Vietnam in 1969. | |
| It was the 4th Battalion, 39th Infantry, commanded by the legendary Colonel David H. Hackworth. | |
| And I had the honor of, I knew Colonel Hackworth at Fort Lewis, Washington before Vietnam. | |
| I'm back at Fort Lewis. | |
| He writes me a letter. | |
| He called me MOOC because he couldn't pronounce Mukoyama. | |
| And I used to call him Sir. | |
| So basically, he writes me a letter and he said, hey, Mook, we got a war going on. | |
| If you want a company, it's yours. | |
| And it's like, I hit the lotto because to serve as an infantry company commander in combat under David Hackworth, it doesn't get any better than that. | |
| So I immediately volunteered again for Vietnam. | |
| First time they sent me to Korea, but this time they took me up on my offer and I went to Vietnam. | |
| So I'm going to ask again, so 1969, Japanese American in the Army in Vietnam. | |
| Did you experience racism then? | |
| No, no. | |
| I was a captain, and that's all that counted, other than the fact that I was infantry, which I'm very proud of. | |
| But no, we did not look at each other in terms of race. | |
|
Every Sunday Best
00:02:25
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|
| This is 1969, ladies and gentlemen. | |
| The great grand left-wing lie about racist America. | |
| It's truly destructive. | |
| All lies are destructive, but that one in particular. | |
| Well, in fact, the Army was one of the first institutions in our society that integrated. | |
| 1948, President Truman. | |
| Prior to that, we had segregated units. | |
| We had black units. | |
| We had Japanese American units, of which, by the way, I'm proud to say, I had uncles in it. | |
| I had relatives who served in Europe and in the Pacific fighting the Japanese. | |
| Were you raised to love America? | |
| Absolutely. | |
| First of all, I'm a very strong man of faith, and the church was the center of our family life. | |
| You know, Chicago is a city of neighborhoods. | |
| It's really cool, especially in those days. | |
| Every neighborhood had a tavern, had a barbershop, had a local grocery store, and had a house of worship. | |
| And our church was three blocks away. | |
| Every Sunday, we would put on our Sunday best clothes as a family and walk to church together. | |
| I literally was a choir boy in the church, and I was in Cub Scouts. | |
| I was in Boy Scouts. | |
| All of that was centered around the church community. | |
| And I'm sure you know that the motto of Boy Scouts is for God and country in that order. | |
| That's important that you add it in that order. | |
| That's right. | |
| You describe an America that is disappearing. | |
| Yes. | |
| Do you agree with me? | |
| Absolutely. | |
| And in fact, I did write just recently, earlier this year, I was so disgusted and disappointed with the polling that showed a significant decrease in the American public about faith and patriotism. | |
|
Every Day Is Great
00:02:45
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|
| And so I wrote something called the Mukiyama Life Manifesto, which basically talked about what I saw as the deterioration of the American values that have made this the most exceptional, least racist, large, multicultural nation in the world. | |
| That's exactly right. | |
| I wish you could speak in every high school in the country. | |
| I've gone back, and as a matter of fact, towards the end of my book, I talk about I spoke at a high school. | |
| I have a standard daily mantra, which is every day is a great day. | |
| I have my faith, my family, and live in the finest country in the world. | |
| And so I gave this speech at a high school, and one of the students who heard me wrote me a letter, and actually a thank you letter for speaking. | |
| And that young man said that I've adopted your mantra. | |
| And I said, this guy gets it. | |
| That's right. | |
| It's funny because I pull up near my house. | |
| There's a Starbucks, and I got a coffee most days. | |
| So the young guy goes, so how's your day? | |
| I go, wonderful. | |
| All my days are wonderful. | |
| And whoever it is, sometimes a young woman, doesn't matter, obviously, whoever it is, they really like the answer. | |
| It's funny, they say, that's great. | |
| It's so good to hear. | |
| So I have a question I like to ask exceptional people like you. | |
| So has this always been your nature? | |
| You're obviously grateful, upbeat. | |
| Is that the nature God or nature gave you? | |
| Yes. | |
| Only because I've witnessed the my father came to the United States at the age of 18, and he came here because of the opportunity and freedoms that were a Japanese man. | |
| Yeah, in fact. | |
| Why don't people understand that? | |
| Yeah, in fact, in 19 when he was born in 1900, okay. | |
| And during grammar school, Japan, in one generation, went from a third world country to a world power that defeated not only China, but defeated Russia. | |
| All right, continue with the story in a moment. | |