The Fort Irwin EO/EEO offices along with the 2916th Aviation Battalion, 916th Support Brigade, hosted the Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Observance via live stream on https://www.facebook.com/NTCFortIrwin/. This year’s event, “Honoring the Past, Securing the Future!” gained more than 2,000 views as Chaplain (Col.) Daniel Oh spoke about the struggles Asian Americans faced during World War II.

Notably Oh spoke about Col. Harry Fukuhara, who was forced into a concentration camp, and still opted to join the United States Army as a translator during a time when Asian Americans were not very welcome in the U.S. All the while his mother and siblings resided in Japan. Oh described the anguish Fukuhara felt after the bombing of Hiroshima which lead to the death of his brother.

Oh said that what he loves about the U.S. is that it corrects its past faults and tries to move from wrong to right. Saying that in 1988, President Reagan signed the Civil Liberties Act in which the federal government made a formal apology for past injustices for those Asian Americans who were survivors of the camps.

“You see, this is what I like about America. When we make mistakes, we admit that it was wrong and make it right. I see this as a good sign because we are in the business of building a better America for all Americans,” Oh said. “As an Asian American, I see the United States as stained-glass windows we see inside the churches. Center Chapel has beautiful stained glasses windows with biblical themes. Using different colors and shapes of glasses, the artist was able to create beautiful stained-glass windows. So, no matter which ethnic groups we belong to. Asian Americans & Pacific Islanders, African Americans, Hispanic Americans, Native Americans, or White Americans, we are all part of this beautiful stained-glass window of the United States.”