<Begin Segment 9>

PF: So I know you are, Hemenway is one of the most influential people in your life, so tell me about your thoughts and feelings about him.

TT: Charles R. Hemenway. Well, actually, I guess I got to meet him during the VVV days, but he was one of the people instrumental, I think, in sanctioning and supporting the formation of the VVV because he was, of course, you know, his two pets were Hung Wai Ching and Shigeo Yoshida, who were, during their university days, were members of the Hawaii union, the debating society of which Mr. Hemenway was advisor. So going back to those days, he was very impressed with Hung Wai and Yoshida. So when the time came to, as the threat of war approached, when Mr. Hemenway felt that there was a need for an organization or institution to try to provide stabilized race relations in the case of a conflict with Japan, that they should have local representation, and Hung Wai and Yoshida were the only non big shots that were appointed, largely because they were nominated or named by Mr. Hemenway. And, of course, they were, they idolized Mr. Hemenway. So it was a very, overall, a very fortuitous relationship in having a man like Hemenway in the position that he was.

PF: Earlier you had said that he was influential between the military and...

TT: Yes.

PF: Tell me more about that.

TT: I think he was advisor. In fact, the Star-Bulletin, they have an article written by an editor, Bud Smyser, in talking about Mr. Hemenway, and said, "He is the man most responsible for saving Hawaii from the tragedy of evacuation and internment that the Japanese on the mainland suffered." And that was because his advice and counsel to the military governor was significant and weighty. And, of course, going back, the military governor here at that time, Delos C. Emmons, commander of the whole Hawaii defense, had the same authority that General DeWitt had on the mainland, which is authority under Executive Order 9066. And Tom Coffman's passion is to tell the story of the different outcomes between California and Hawaii's experience in dealing and handling with the Japanese. And here General DeWitt takes his authority under 9066 and virtually imprisons the Japanese people, whereas General Emmons here in Hawaii, having the same authority and power, listens to the advice and counsel of people like Charles Hemenway and Frank Atherton, and I heard even Dillingham and the local people, to put off any urgings by Roosevelt and Secretary of the Navy Knox to evacuate the Japanese from Hawaii. He resisted that. And that's probably his greatest achievement and contribution during his service as military governor here in Hawaii. But again, central to the kind of advice that he got in making his decisions was the fact that he had this group of local leaders, citizens, and influential Big Five positions, that apparently California didn't have. In fact, I've written an article called "The Tale of Two Generals," telling the difference between the two generals, how they handled, they used the same authority in such different ways. But Mr. Hemenway is, he supported Hung Wai and Yoshida's concept. Hung Wai and Yoshida are really considered the fathers of VVV. It's really their concept, and he supported it. And he even took the trouble to -- well, of course, he was very close to Ralph Yempuku, too. And Ralph Yempuku was our leader. So he had a personal interest in us, and I have five or six handwritten letters from Charles R. Hemenway sent to me when I'm way out in the jungles in Burma, just one personal letter, basically, encouraging us to hang in there and do our part, and also saying that, "When you come back, things will be different." And here he is, he's a big man. He's a big man in Big Five, and he takes the trouble to write letters in his own handwriting, sending it out to nobodies like us, just young kids. You've got to take your hat off to a person like that. That's why I am now willing to be chairman of the Hemenway Scholarship Committee.

<End Segment 9> - Copyright © 2012 Densho. All Rights Reserved.