 This is St. Tech, Hawaii. Community Matters here. I'm Marcia Joyner and we are navigating the journey. And today, we are going to talk to a dear old friend that we met last week. He is Domingo Lasvanyas, a United States Army retired. And what can I say, just the dearest friend. Thank you. He has been fighting the good fight, I guess is the way you put that. He has done everything in the world for the veterans, the Filipino veterans. The Filipino veterans, as most of you know, fought the World War II because that MacArthur said, I will return. And so they worked hard to do that. And then they've been forgotten. The Americans have turned their back on them. And so Lasvanyas has spent these last years working hard to be sure that they are not forgotten. So, again, welcome Aloha. Thank you so much for being here. Thank you. So, last week we talked about, tell us a little bit about these Filipino soldiers that, like we said, are forgotten. Yes. I'm especially concerned about, well, we're pleased that after 75 years, Congress has given the Filipino soldiers from the Philippines and America 3,000, 360,000 veterans. This prestigious Medal of Honor. I'm particularly interested in 300 of local boys whose parents were in the plantation working in a plantation in a sugar and pineapple. We were young teenagers when we joined the first Filipino infantry. And so at the last meeting when we got, when we were awarded the gold medal. That was in May. In May 6. Only five of us really got it, of the local boys. I'm concerned about the other 300 boys. Because most of them are dead. So I'm really talking to the next of kin of these boys that were in the army with me. Next of kin, remember your grandfather or your uncles may have been with me. All they need to do is really go to the graveyard where they are buried in Hawaii. They have your 214 because the 214 is what you need to get information about where you served, when you served. And that would put you in line. And that if you give this to this number to Anita Acojito and her number is 285-5143. You have to check that you're next of kin. All of the operators of the burial grounds in Hawaii, they have soldiers, they have your 214. And you need the 214 to fill out another blank, which will give us, what we sent to Washington and they'll clear you for the pickup of your medal. For anybody that doesn't know what you're saying about your 214, it's a DD214. So it's your discharge papers. And it has everything on it. But for civilians that don't know, it says DD214. So one more little bit of housekeeping. When we talked about the 17 soldiers, the Filipino soldiers that were on submarines. Submarines, yes. Again, if any of those that were in your family that you have not identified, they are all, their pictures, their names are all on the museum, the Bofen Submarine Museum. And again, please call the submarine. We're going to list all these telephone numbers at the end of the program. But we do want you to please, we can't leave anybody unaccounted for. So please call, please go see them. And you can handle all of this. But we, all these telephone numbers will be at the end of the program. Wonderful. Thank you. So now one more thing in terms of housekeeping. Again, if you're not part of this, these are things you don't know. The federal government has the VA, Veterans Association, Veterans VA. And the state, State of Hawaii has a separate organization. And it is called the Hawaii, State of Hawaii Office of Hawaiian Affairs. And that's Colonel Han. And so again, all of these telephone numbers will be listed at the end of the program so that you can make sure any questions about any of this, please call any one of them. And they can help you. They are willing to help you simply because we cannot let any veteran go unclaimed, unidentified with full honors. So please, if you know anybody, please give them a call. Now let's talk about you. Last week we talked about all of your exploits in the military. And we ended the program when you said at the bombing of Nagasaki that you made a commitment. So you want to tell us about that? Well, at the time I made that commitment, I was in the midst of a battle in the jungle. And in jungle warfare in the Philippines, it's so crowded, maybe 10 of us could fight the rest of just watch. So it was, in any case, soon after they dropped the bomb on Nagasaki, the next day what was over. So in the midst of the jungle they pulled me out, brought me to the seacoast. So God kept his promise. I said, God, get me out of this, get me out of harm's way and I'll become a teacher. So right after that bombing was over for us. So I said, well, I better keep my commitment. So I quit the army. I went to the Philippines, saw my relatives, my last visit, caught the boat home. And I enrolled at, I had already spent one year at the University of Hawaii. I went to Springfield College, Massachusetts. I spent my training there three years in physical education and health. Springfield College was noted for training YMCA secretaries. The logo of Springfield College is spirit, mind, and body in a triangle in balance. So that's where I get my guidance about a good life, a balance between your spirit, your mind, and your body. You need a healthy body, but you need training. That's why I went to college. So I had three wonderful, wonderful years at Springfield College. And I started... Where is Springfield College? Springfield College, Massachusetts. That's where they had the Springfield Rifles. So I spent my time there. And coming from Hawaii and New England is so whole, I had to get used to that. But I spent three years there and had a wonderful training. By the way, Don Ho was a freshman when I was a senior. And we used to sing together before he was, you know, Pupuhino Hino. Before he was Pupuhino Hino days, but he was... We used to sing in the elementary schools of Springfield and talking about Hawaii. So the fact that we came from Hawaii, we were interesting people to the New Englanders. So I spent three years there. And then I went home and I taught. My first teaching was fifth grade in Waipahu and Hawaii Elementary School. That was my first teaching. And after that I taught high school, coaching basketball, baseball, football. So that's where I started my teaching career. Then after a while I became a principal. Principal player. I was a principal. My first principal was on the whole of school, up on the sea coast of Hawaii. And I taught grades four, five, and six. Six, seven, eight, besides being a principal. That was my beginning. Then from there I came to Honolulu and was principal of Lina Kona School, which is a school for the mentally retarded. I was there and then went to a workshop in San Francisco. Art workshop. And there I met my wife. My face was her model to make paper machine masks. She was a special ed teacher and I was a special principal. So that's how we got together. And then strangely enough, when I was in Springfield College, there was a Mr. and Mrs. Miyake. Mr. Miyake's Jimmy's wife, Martha, was my classmate in kindergarten in Waihewa. And so we met in college. Now she and Jim were in Bangkok, Thailand, head of the Fulbright program. And they called a bunch of university professors. One in Oceanography, one in Sociology. And they wanted a sports guy. So Jim asked me, Jim, you want to come? I said, I have, yeah. So my wife wanted to accompany me. I said, okay, get your degree. We're rendezvous in Kyoto and we're going to Thailand. And that's what we did. We got married in Kyoto. So she and I are together. We went to Thailand. And in Thailand, law and bill, I was scheduled to be, for two years, the teacher in the Royal Palace for the children in the palace. And there I am, the king of Thailand now. He was my forthcoming student. And then in the evening, I would coach the Thailand basketball team. And so the first Southeast Asian financial game in 1959, I coached the Thailand basketball team. We won the gold medal. And because we won the gold medal, they invited me to go to the Olympics in Italy 1960 Olympics. And there we played England. We beat them by two points. We played Australia. We beat them by two points. And we had a game with China. We beat them by two points. So we had a good time. And we were part of the 60 Olympics. Wonderful. So after that, I came home and I made me a principal of Waipahu Elementary School. And then from there, I went back to Kapaa as a principal of Kapaa High School. And then from there, I worked in the Central Office of the Department of Education. And they made me a district superintendent of the Leeward School. So I ran the school for about 11 years. I built Campbell High School, Palsiri High School, Nankuli High School. So that was my belly way. So this is where I got in touch with many of the early Philippine educators. And we went into a project to keep these young Filipinos getting a college education. And we need to take a break. And we will be back in one minute. And then you tell us all about the Filipino boys. OK. This is Think Tech Hawaii, raising public awareness. Welcome to Hawaii. This is Prince Dykes, your host of the Prince of Investing. Coming to you guys each and every Tuesday at 11 a.m. Right here on Think Tech Hawaii. Don't forget to come by and check out some of the great information on stocks, investing, your money, all the other great stuff. And I'll be your host. See you, too. OK. We're back. I'm Marcia. And today we are talking to Domingo Los Barrios. And he was telling us all about teaching. And he would, just beginning to tell us about what you did with the Filipinos locally. We made it a point. And really, this really ties in with our battle cry. It plays a part. The battle cry, we had this battle cry during the occupation of the Philippines to keep focus on our mission. And the battle cry of the First Regiment was lugging una in Filipino, which really means be the best, be number one. So we got to talk to our Filipino people and said, look, be proud you're a Filipino. Be proud. If you're an Army, you're an American Army. Be the best. So that's lugging una. The battle cry of the Second Regiment was so long, means forward. Follow your leaders. Be the best. Know that you're going to survive. But develop a serving heart. Go to college. Get your skill. Share your heart with your others. And then finally, the special unit were especially important to MacArthur. The First Reconnaissance Unit, their motto was Bahalanah, which is go with God. Knowing that God's love is inclusive, which means it means love your enemies also, that God's love is sacrificial, that God gave his only son to die on the cross that we might live. And God's love is transforming. He gives to you the Holy Spirit. And the Holy Spirit will help you think through to deal with your problems. And that was Bahalanah. Go with God. Bahalanah. Bahalanah. Nah. Nah. That's the three. And those three, Mac cries, we shared with Filipino students in college and they've developed a unit called Serilingawa. Do your own thing, where we encourage our young Filipino boys and girls to stay in college, get a skill, and share that skill. And they've been getting together as a unit, the Serilingawa for about 40 years, meeting every year at Camp Erdman, urging the Filipino kids, prepare yourself, prepare yourself, get a serving heart. And that I think has been the mission that I think God gave me when he saved me. And so that has always been our push and courage to young folks go to college, get a skill, but open your heart to others. And that has served us when we were three years when Mac Arthur was missing from the Philippines, that kept us together. And we felt that we made an impact because Mac Arthur, we helped him keep his promise to the people of the Philippines and America of I shall return. Now, when did you start this campaign to have all of the Filipinos recognized by the Americans had fallen down on their promise to bring them reparations? Yes, yes. The Americans had dropped the ball. So when did you start this too? I started that early on. See, early on I knew that America had rescinded that the promise to these Filipino soldiers they rescinded that. And for then I and my associates created the movie Untold Triumph which gives the exploits of our outfit and I sent that to the chairman of the committee in Washington. They did nothing about it. So it was almost 8,000 Filipinos from the Philippines coming to Hawaii, living here for 75 years and finally they come out with something thanks to the goodness of Senator Inouye and Senator Akaka. They were always there trying to get something for the fellows. So these soldiers from the Philippines they've been in Hawaii for that many years waiting for some recourse. And I thank the Filipino clubs that helped these Filipino fellows soldiers and their wives while they, for the 75 years they spent in Hawaii we were always helpful to them. So I'm pleased now that after 75 years Congress has said okay, this is we say thank you to you. And I'm especially pleased that the legislature feeling uncomfortable about taking 75 years to recognize these Filipino veterans from Philippines and America they gave us $200,000 for war memorial and I want that war memorial. Where will that be? In the year. Now where? Where I want a commission that will try to place that in the right place. I hope that we can put them at Pearl Harbor because it needs to be in Pearl Harbor. Yes because the story when MacArthur was kicked out it was our boys that helped him keep his promise of I shall return. So I think it would be properly placed there. It should be there because that is part of the story of the war. Early on. Early on. And in it it will show how early on we were, we were MacArthur's, I think. So I'm thankful to the legislatures, to Senator Hirono and Gabbard and Direc and our state legislature for providing that funds. Hopefully we can get it that end of the year. And I'm on that commission to give the message of that memorial. And if I could, what I have in mind is that it should be a message of peace on earth. That's what I want that message to say. So watch for that. Yeah. Because it has to be that it is a part of the American story. Correct. And when I was- I was- I was encouraged to be there because more people go to the Arizona than any place else and- Correct. And that they need to see this story. They need to know that this is a part of America also. That these young men are part of America also. I had the opportunity to thank President Obama for the branding of the award and I then turned to the Japanese premier and I thanked him that Japan was the first country to ever stand up to the world and say no more war. So I hope that we can get a message through Army Memorial that says stop all war. Let there be peace on earth and let it begin with me. Absolutely, absolutely. Do you have any image in mind of what you would like? Well, we saw, we already picked the architect and the architect showed us a soldier lifting up a fellow and helping him walk. Well that has the spirit of the butter on death march. Yes. So we picked that and then we see the at least five boys with flat nose, Filipino nose with steel helmets and I think we get a woman there because the women were gorillas also so she can have a straw hat that should emanate from that memorial. I also want to see a word like live aloha do unto others as you would have others do unto you but that would have the spirit of Hawaii and peace and I hope Hawaii can be brave enough to come out strong with that message. Oh I'm sure, I'm sure. There are so many Filipino descendants. Yes, we're growing. Yes, of those boys that sacrifice so much in the legislature. They're in the legislature now too. They're everywhere in all parts of the government of Hawaii. So that should not be a problem. Yeah. So you boys, families of the Valentines, of the Santa Annas, of the Lapins, get next of kin, register, go to where your people, your loved one was buried. They have their discharge papers there. You can begin signing up to get what is due to your family. You'd be so proud when you see that medal of honor. Thank you. Well thank you and it's been a pleasure spending this time with you as always and we again just appreciate your being here with us and thank you for spending this time with us and we'll see you next time. Aloha. Thank you. I think we got it. I think we got the message. Yes. Okay. You see all of these burial grounds, they have the listings of the people's names. We put it in their hands already. Yes. Okay. Well thank you so much for the part you're playing in this. I'm so glad. Yes. And Kenneth said to tell you hello.