[Congressional Record Volume 148, Number 53 (Thursday, May 2, 2002)]
[Senate]
[Pages S3839-S3840]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                   TRIBUTE TO THE LATE HUNG WAI CHING

 Mr. INOUYE. Mr. President, recently, I was made aware of an 
extraordinary eulogy delivered on February 23, 2002, at the memorial 
services of an old and dear friend, Mr. Hung Wai Ching. It was 
delivered by a comrade-in-arms, Mr. Ted Tsukiyama. I urge my colleagues 
to read this inspiring eulogy. It describes an important chapter in the 
history of Our Nation.
  I ask that this eulogy be printed in the Record.
  The eulogy follows:

                        Hung Wai Ching: A Eulogy

       Hung Wai Ching was a true and great hero of the Hawaii 
     homefront during World War II. With his passing last February 
     9, 2002, Hawaii has lost the last survivor of those few 
     wartime leaders who believed in the underlying loyalty of the 
     Japanese in Hawaii, who courageously stood up and spoke up in 
     the face of racial animosity and wartime hysteria to fight 
     and win back for the Nisei the opportunity to demonstrate 
     their loyalty to America.
       Hawaii was indeed fortunate that Hung Wai Ching was 
     appointed to the key and critical Morale Section of the 
     Military Governor's office which served as liaison between 
     the Military Government and the civil population to maintain 
     and preserve the morale, peace and stability of a community 
     at war. One of the main jobs of the Morale Section was to 
     stabilize and prevent possible explosive race situations. 
     Reprisals against the Japanese people had to be prevented. 
     Roughneck whites and blacks amongst the thousands of defense 
     workers pouring into Hawaii had to be kept in line working in 
     harmony. When news of the ``Bataan Death March'' reached 
     Hawaii, Hung Wai rushed out to the plantations to find the 
     Filipino workers sharpening their cane knives. He told them: 
     ``Hey, you sharp da knife, eh? Good! You be ready. But no use 
     da knife until I give you da signal, OK?'' Hung Wai's ``cane 
     knife army'' had to wait patiently throughout the whole war, 
     because Hung Wai never gave the signal.
       Hung Wai reported directly to FBI Chief Robert Shivers and 
     to Army Intelligence Col. Kendall J. Fielder, who had 
     unlimited authority to preserve the internal security of 
     Hawaii, and to detain anyone deemed a security risk. There 
     were any number of Japanese in Hawaii who, unbeknownst to 
     them, were released early from detention or were never 
     detained at all, because of Hung Wai's intervention. When 
     General Emmons first arrived in Hawaii, he called in 
     Fielder and asked him, ``Fielder, how many Japs did you 
     take in today?'', but after consultation with Hung Wai, 
     Fielder refused to make blanket quota arrests, even at the 
     risk of court martial and his future military career. The 
     tragic wartime mistake of mass evacuation and internment 
     of Japanese was not repeated by Hawaii's military and 
     intelligence leaders, largely because of calm and reasoned 
     behind-the-scenes consultation from advisors like Hung Wai 
     Ching.
       The Morale Section concentrated its efforts on the 
     Japanese, because after the Japanese sneak attack on Pearl 
     Harbor, Hung Wai knew that everyone who was of Japanese 
     ancestry, alien or citizen alike, were ``behind the eight 
     ball.'' Pearl Harbor was still in smoking ruins. A Japanese 
     invasion of Hawaii was expected any day. Rumors of Japanese 
     disloyalty was rampant. Nisei soldiers of the 298th Infantry 
     had their guns taken away. The draft status of all Nisei was 
     changed to ``enemy alien'', ineligible for military service. 
     The President of Mutual Telephone Company proposed that all 
     Japanese be evacuated to Molokai. There was widespread fear 
     and distrust against the Japanese in Hawaii and grave 
     questions as to their loyalty to country.
       But Hung Wai had no question or doubt whatever of these 
     same people he grew up with, his classmates all the way up to 
     the University, those that he lead in the YMCA programs. But 
     he knew that people in Hawaii and the general American public 
     at large would never be convinced of the loyalty of Japanese 
     Americans until they could get back into the armed services, 
     bear arms, fight, and even die for their country. So the most 
     significant contribution Hung Wai Ching made during the war 
     was the direct role he played in helping Japanese Americans 
     regain the opportunity to bear arms and to prove their 
     ultimate loyalty to country. This is that story.
       On December 7, 1941, the UH ROTC cadets which had been 
     called to duty were converted into the Hawaii Territorial 
     Guard, the HTG, and were assigned to guard vital buildings 
     and installations on Oahu. Six weeks later, on January 19, 
     1942, the War Department had discovered to its horror that 
     ``Honolulu was being guarded by hundreds of Japs in American 
     uniforms,'' all HTG soldiers of Japanese ancestry were 
     discharged. Most of them returned to the University where 
     Hung Wai met, consoled, counseled and inspired a group of 
     confused, bitter and disillusioned Nisei to offer themselves 
     to the Military Governor as a labor battalion. I was one of 
     them, I remember his key pitch was: ``So they don't trust you 
     with rifles, maybe they'll trust you with picks and 
     shovels.'' ``Picks and shovels???'' Here, Hung Wai was asking 
     guys who were trying to get a college education to escape a 
     future of plantation labor to volunteer to go back to manual 
     labor! But considering the desperate situation they were in, 
     Hung Wai made sense. So, in the end, 169 Nisei signed a 
     petition to the Military Governor offering themselves as a 
     labor battalion. Hung Wai took that Petition to Col. 
     Fielder to assure that the Petition would be accepted by 
     the Military Governor. The group was called the ``Varsity 
     Victory Volunteers'' and were assigned to the 34th 
     Construction Engineer Regiment at Schofield Barracks to 
     perform essential defense construction work for the next 
     11 months.
       As the acknowledged ``Father of the VVV'' Hung Wai took a 
     paternal interest in his VVV boys and showed them off at 
     every chance. In December 1942, Col. Fielder asked Hung Wai 
     to escort the Assistant Secretary of War, John J. McCloy, the 
     most powerful man in the War Department, on a field 
     inspection trip. Hung Wai made sure that McCloy saw the VVV 
     Quarry Gang cracking rocks and operating the quarry up at 
     Kolekole Pass and told him, ``those are all Nisei university 
     boys who gave up their education to do their part for the war 
     effort.'' Could it have been a mere coincidence that five-six 
     weeks later, President Roosevelt announced the formation of 
     an all Nisei combat unit and called for volunteers. This was 
     exactly the ultimate objective of the VVV and the chance they 
     had been working and waiting for, so the VVV voted to disband 
     on January 25, 1943 so that they could volunteer for the 
     442nd. Thus, it was the VVV which had been inspired and 
     initiated by Hung Wai Ching that proved one of the key 
     factors leading to the decision to allow the Nisei to fight 
     for country by the formation of the 442nd Regimental Combat 
     Team, and the rest is well known to history.
       Hung Wai then adopted the 442nd in place of his disbanded 
     VVV boys, and used his connections with War Department to 
     assure

[[Page S3840]]

     that the 442nd be given every opportunity and fair treatment 
     to succeed. When Hawaii's 442nd volunteers sailed out of Pier 
     11 on the Lurline troopship, Hung Wai was one of the few 
     persons allowed on the Pier to see them off. Five days later 
     when the Lurline sailed into San Francisco, there standing on 
     the pier to greet the 442nd boys was Hung Wai Ching. He had 
     flown up to California to meet and request that General 
     DeWitt treat these volunteers with dignity and to withdraw 
     any armed guards along the route because ``these were not 
     Japanese POW's, they were American soldiers.'' Then Hung Wai 
     asked the General if the 442nd could be given overnight 
     passes so that they could eat chop suey in SF Chinatown. The 
     General thought he was crazy. Imagine, Hung Wai was asking 
     the very same man who had ordered 120,000 Japanese to be 
     evacuated from the West Coast and imprisoned into American 
     concentration camps to allow 2,452 ``buddahead soldiers'' to 
     roam around the City of San Francisco. Crazy it was, but it 
     shows how much Hung Wai tried ``to take care of his boys.''
       When the troop trains bulled into Camp Shelby, Mississippi, 
     the boys were greeted with the comforting sight of Hung Wai 
     standing at the train station. He had just returned from a 
     War Department visit where he tried to get the training 
     site of the 442nd moved out of the South to a more 
     racially tolerant Midwest. Secretary McCloy told him the 
     decision was already made but authorized Hung Wai to 
     travel to Camp Shelby to oversee the organization of the 
     442nd. At that time, the City of Hattiesburg, Mississippi 
     was in uproar over the news, ``Jap regiment to train at 
     Camp Shelby!''. First thing, Hung Wai met with the editor 
     of the Hattiesburg American and the Chief of Police to 
     tell them that ``These were not Japs, these were American 
     soldiers who had volunteered to fight for their country.'' 
     Thereafter, the ``Go Home Japs'' editorials ceased and the 
     ``Japs Not Wanted'' road signs disappeared. Hung Wai saw 
     to it that the 442nd got its own USO and that it was 
     located on the white side of the then still-segregated 
     Hattiesburg. An old-fashioned Southern Baptist minister 
     had been appointed as the first 442nd chaplain but Hung 
     Wai got the Army Chaplain's Corp to replace that chaplain 
     with Hawaii's own Reverends Masao Yamada and Hiro Higuchi. 
     These are some of the reasons why Hung Wai Ching is one of 
     the first to be named an Honorary Member of the 442nd 
     Veterans Club.
       Earlier, in May, 1942, Col. Fielder had assigned Hung Wai 
     to observe and monitor the formation of the Hawaiian 
     Provisional Infantry Battalion, predecessor to the famed 
     100th Infantry Battalion. Hung Wai was instrumental in 
     assuring that the 100th would be staffed and led into battle 
     by Hawaii-born officers like Col. Turner, Maj. Lovell, 
     Captain Johnson and Captain Kometani. Hung Wai monitored the 
     progress of the 100th through its training, maneuvers and 
     overseas Italian and French battlegrounds, and everywhere he 
     went and spoke, he extolled the exploits and distinguished 
     battle record of ``The Purple Heart Battalion.'' And this is 
     why Hung Wai is named as one of the exclusive Honorary 
     Members of the 100th Infantry Battalion Veterans Club.
       Back at Camp Shelby, Hung Wai tells us the high brass of 
     the 442nd were going crazy trying to figure out who this 
     ``Bossy Chinaman'' was, always accompanied by ranking 
     officers and who could order all kinds of changes in the 
     442nd organization. Little did they realize that backing up 
     his demands was the authority of General Emmons, Military 
     Governor of Hawaii, Joe Farrington, Hawaii's Delegate to 
     Congress, Secretary McCloy of the War Department, and 
     eventually the White House itself. Early in the War, Hung 
     Wai's influential Quaker friend had introduced him to Eleanor 
     Roosevelt and they quickly became good friends. She gave Hung 
     Wai an open invitation to visit the White House any time. On 
     one of those visits, as Hung Wai was telling Mrs. Roosevelt 
     about the ``Japanese situation in Hawaii,'' she said, ``The 
     President should hear this,'' and took Hung Wai upstairs to 
     talk to President Roosevelt. Hung Wai remembers they talked 
     for 40 minutes but he was so nervous and excited that when 
     the President offered to light his cigarette, he put it in 
     his coat pocket as a souvenir and burnt a hole in his new 
     suit. But he remembers the one thing he told the President 
     was that General Emmons and FBI Chief Shivers were doing a 
     great job, had the situation well in hand, and that there 
     was no necessity for a mass evacuation of Japanese from 
     Hawaii. As we all know, Hawaii never suffered the same 
     tragedy of mass internment of Japanese as happened in the 
     West Coast of America.
       After returning from Camp Shelby, Hung Wai went on speaking 
     tours to countless business groups and civic organizations 
     praising the military record and achievements of the 100th 
     and 442nd. His constant message and plea was: When the boys 
     come home from the wars, accept and treat them as full 
     American citizens, open up greater job opportunities for 
     them, and help them finish their education and vocational 
     training. And after the war, Hung Wai led the way in helping 
     the returning veterans rehabilitate back to civilian life, to 
     go back to their old jobs or get placed into banks and Big 
     Five jobs previously inaccessible to persons of Japanese 
     ancestry. He headed the Veteran's Memorial Scholarship Fund 
     and obtained scholarship aid to help needy veteran finish 
     their schooling and vocational training.
       One of Hung Wai's favorite scholarship stories is about a 
     veteran who needed help to go to journalism school, and Hung 
     Wai tapped one of the Big Five businessmen for funds to 
     finance this veteran's schooling. Hung Wai says that donor 
     went to his grave never knowing or realizing that he had 
     helped finance the education of Koji Ariyoshi who was to 
     become publisher and editor of the Honolulu Record, the chief 
     critic and anti-Big Five newspaper in Honolulu. Hung Wai told 
     me of another of his VVV and 442nd boys who was attending 
     Chicago Law School who called and asked Hung Wai if he could 
     get a loan of $300 to finish law school, so Hung Wai sent him 
     the $300. Hung Wai says, ``You know, after that guy came back 
     to Hawaii he not only paid back the $300 but he contributed 
     every year many many times over the $300 so that others could 
     get the same breaks.'' That veteran became the leading labor 
     lawyer in Hawaii and ended up as a Justice of the Hawaii 
     Supreme Court. His name was Edward Nakamura.
       But one of the most notable persons he helped was not a 
     veteran, but no less than the former FBI Chief Robert Shivers 
     himself. One day Hung Wai got a call from Shivers who said he 
     wanted to retire in Hawaii and asked Hung Wai to help him get 
     the U.S. Collector of Customs job for Hawaii. The local 
     Japanese community raised funds to send Hung Wai to 
     Washington, D.C., to see Mrs. Eleanor Roosevelt, where he 
     told her how much Shivers had done for the people of Hawaii 
     during the War and was well deserving of the job. Mrs. 
     Roosevelt said, ``All right, I'll go talk to Henry.'' Hung 
     Wai asked, ``Who's Henry?'' ``Henry'' was none other than 
     Henry Morganthau, Secretary of the Treasury and head of the 
     U.S. Customs. A few days later, Mrs. Roosevelt called Hung 
     Wai back and said, ``Tell Mr. Shivers everything is all 
     arranged.'' Then Hung Wai tell me, ``You know, I really 
     wanted that Customs job myself.'' He comes up close and 
     gives me a jab with his bony elbow and says, ``Hey, as 
     Collector of Customs, I could control the opium trade to 
     Hawaii and become a millionaire.'' As we all know, Hung 
     Wai ended his life far from being a millionaire. In fact, 
     it has to be said that Hung Wai never used his wartime 
     position of power nor his high placed contacts to gain 
     benefit or profit for himself. It was always used for the 
     good and benefit of others.
       Hung Wai Ching's place in Hawaii's wartime history is 
     secure. At the Centennial celebration of Japanese immigration 
     to Hawaii held in 1986, Hung Wai Ching was nominated as one 
     of the 24 non-Japanese and the only one of Chinese ancestry 
     who had made significant contributions and support to welfare 
     and progress of Hawaii's Japanese during their 100 year 
     history. Hung Wai has been recognized as a national 
     historical figure. Hung Wai called me one day not too long 
     ago and said, ``Say, my grandson, Christopher, called me from 
     Los Angeles all excited and telling me, `Grandpa, Grandpa, I 
     saw your picture in a museum.''' So Hung Wai asked me what 
     kind of museum would be showing his picture, and I tell him, 
     it's the National Japanese American Museum in Los Angeles and 
     they have a photo and a story about you in the history of the 
     Japanese American experience during World War II. Go see it 
     when you go to LA. Next time I saw Hung Wai after a trip to 
     Los Angeles, he reported that he did go to the Museum but 
     they wanted him to pay admission to get in. He told them, 
     ``You got my picture in there. I just want to go in to see my 
     picture.'' The lady says, ``Five dollars please.'' So Hung 
     Wai turned around and walked away. So I got after Hung Wai 
     telling him, ``Hung Wai, you tight Pake, you. You don't want 
     to shell out $5.00 to go in and see how much all the Japanese 
     in the United States remember you, honor you, and want to 
     thank you for all you did for them!''
       And Hung Wai's place in history was revealed directly to 
     his son, King Lit, one day in New York when he was introduced 
     to a mainland-born 442nd Veteran who asked him ``If your name 
     is Ching, do you know Hung Wai Ching?'' King Lit told this 
     story to his father and said, ``When I told him Hung Wai 
     Ching was my father, he really flipped. And as he told me all 
     about you, he cried, Pop, the man cried! It was kind of 
     embarrassing but then I was so proud.'' All of us 442nd 
     veterans know exactly how that veteran felt. He shed tears of 
     gratitude. He cried for all of us.
       It is time to say ``Goodbye'' to Hung Wai.
       So on behalf of all of ``his boys,'' I will simply say:
     ``So long, Hung Wai.''
     ``You did one helluva job for us.''
     ``Thanks for everything.''
     ``Aloha.''

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