Densho Digital Archive
Densho Visual History Collection
Title: Paul Bannai Interview II
Narrator: Paul Bannai
Interviewer: Alice Ito
Location: Seattle, Washington
Date: December 29, 2000
Densho ID: denshovh-bpaul-02-0014

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AI: Now, you turned fifty in 1970.

PB: Right.

AI: And at that point you had already seen some social changes taking place.

PB: Right.

AI: In fact, during the '60s, of course, the Civil Rights movement had really developed, and also the Vietnam War was going on.

PB: Right.

AI: Now, I understand that you served on the draft board for a period...

PB: Right.

AI: ...during the Vietnam War. And I thought that was somewhat ironic since you had spent so much time and effort trying to get into service during World War II. Now during the Vietnam War, you were on the other side. You were on the draft board, and you were having young men come before you who, as I understand, a number of them were trying to not, not to serve.

PB: Right.

AI: They were against the war or may have been...

PB: Right.

AI: ...conscientious objectors. Could you say a little bit about your experience in that?

PB: Well, when I was on the draft board, the young people that appeared before us, and we would listen to their case. And as you know at that particular time there was a tremendous amount of animosity against our involvement in Vietnam. And so some of these young people that appeared before us were influenced by other people more than anything else, not their own feeling, I think. But they told us they did not want to be taken into service. And in many ways I respected that. The only thing I would try to find out from them, individually or otherwise, is was it their own feeling? Did they have a reason for that? Many of them had good excuses, maybe they had a job, they wanted to go to school, things of this nature. And since they were very sincere in their desire not to go into service, well then I would say, well, if that's the case, then maybe we can excuse 'em and not call them into service. Because we had a sufficient amount of people that we could bring into service. But it was a controversial time, and I served on the draft board for a little while, but eventually I did ask to be relieved of it.

Now, I've been to Vietnam, subsequent. I went two years ago four times to see what the eventual result was of our participation in the war there. Also I went there because I had American and Japanese companies desirous of opening a business there. I'm convinced that Vietnam, being very Communistic, will take a little while to get into being able to do anything with the United States of America. But that had nothing to do with the people that we're talking about during the war. Looking back on it, any war is a mistake no matter where it is, where we have it. And maybe Vietnam was a situation that we didn't have to be there. So you have to respect the feelings of some of these individuals that appeared before me. And I feel very sorry for the parents, the families, and individuals that lost their life in Vietnam, in what many people consider a futile effort, in not being, accomplished anything. So that was my feeling during the time I was on the draft board and I still retain that. I don't think that I would want to be back there at that particular time again and make a decision of whether a man should go into the service or not.

AI: Now, at about the same time that the Vietnam War was going on and there were some antiwar protests, the Civil Rights movement had developed, Gardena was fairly close to Watts.

PB: Yeah.

AI: And then at that time there were the Watts riots, which some people are aware were, I think some very low-income communities, members of those communities were extremely frustrated at some of the treatment they had received, both economic issues and racial discrimination.

PB: Right.

AI: You were so close there in Gardena, what was your impression, or how, what did you see happening there during that period?

PB: Well, looking back on that particular time, I think that there was much accomplished by people. For instance, like Martin Luther King and individuals that took it upon themselves to be the leader and try to impress upon the people that their rights and what they're entitled to. I think that because of that and because of what we have done individually, I think that later on you're going to be talking about the commission and what the Japanese Americans have done to try to overcome and prove to the people that we are Americans. I think that all these things done as a group or individually, contribute to making, you might say, a better America for those of us who are minorities.

AI: Uh-huh. Well, it was a very turbulent time.

<End Segment 14> - Copyright © 2000 Densho. All Rights Reserved.