 Hello, welcome to Global Connections. I'm Patrick Bratton here with you on TinkTek TV. Today we've got a special guest with us today, Dr. Russell Hart at Y Pacific University, who's going to be telling us about some interesting programs he's been managing, working about World War II in the Pacific and Hawaii. Without further ado, welcome to TinkTek. Patrick, it's great to be here again. Thank you very much. Thank you. You've been here before talking about myths of World War II last year, I believe. I was here last year talking about the myths of World War II, and yes, those myths still persist this year. Interesting. One of the things that you've been running this past summer you just got done with is the Pacific Academy that you've been working at, I believe, with the National World War II Museum. What is the Pacific Academy? What's the title and tale? What's this program about? Yes, so intensive learning programs are something that I've had an interest in for a number of years now. I've done a few in the past. The Pacific Academy is essentially was a one-month-long intensive learning program based here at our Hawaii Pacific University Zellua Tower Marketplace, our new facility. We brought in 20 students from the mainland and some HPU students for a month-long academic program focused on World War II in the Pacific. We partnered with the National World War II Museum in New Orleans. One of their missions is to expose younger generations to the Second World War and the lessons and legacies of that conflict. They do academic programming around the world in Europe and in the Pacific. They're a natural partner for Hawaii Pacific University to work with on the Pacific Academy this summer. Interesting. How long has the World Virtue Museum been around? It's been around. It was the National D-Day Museum. It was founded as in the 1990s. And then in recent years it has expanded its mission to focus on the whole of the Second World War. They have a wonderful museum in New Orleans. If you're in that lovely city, I would encourage you to go visit. And they've really been building out their academic programs in the Pacific Theatre in recent years. So they'll be back here in December for the 75th anniversary of Pearl Harbor doing a major tour and academic symposium that Hawaii Pacific University will be involved with as well. So the partnership with the National World War II Museum makes a lot of sense for Hawaii Pacific University and for our mission to educate local and national and international students with an international educational experience here in the heart of the Pacific. I have to ask an obvious question, but I'll ask it anyways. So why Hawaii in a sense? I mean, this is New Orleans is very far away, right? Well, I mean, obviously if you want to learn something about the Second World War in Asia Pacific, Hawaii is the place to go. I mean, this is the center. This is the place where on the 7th of December 1941 the Empire of Japan attacked the United States with a surprise attack on Pearl Harbor and did a devastating blow to the US 7th Fleet base base here. And so Hawaii has such a rich military history, such a deep connection to war and conflict and the state and its evolution has been profoundly shaped by the Second World War. So if you want to study and understand the Second World War, you want to learn something about Hawaii's experience and the consequences, the legacies of that, you've got to come to Oahu and and see it firsthand and experience it firsthand. It's one thing to read about a conflict in textbooks and study it, but experiential learning really is profoundly influential and there's nothing more valuable in explaining this conflict to young people than actually taking them to some of these major battlefield sites and conflict sites and really exposing them to that experience. It's very meaningful. One thing that you mentioned earlier about the mission of the World War II Museum is, again, in a sense, to teach a new generation about the history and the importance of the war. I mean, one shift that I've seen, I want to ask you if you've seen this similar shift, is probably the last couple of generations, our generation, the generation before, World War II in the memory of the war was very present, whether it was through family members and then all throughout from the 60s to the 80s, there's a whole slew of movies good and not so good and ugly about World War II that we kind of grew up with and maybe perhaps same as me, you were as a kid as a young boy building little models of B-17s and Tiger tanks and other things like that. I mean, do you find now that as that generation is passing away and we don't see perhaps as many war movies or these types of things, people playing video games or whatever, do you find that with this newer generation of millennials and stuff that they're perhaps much farther away from World War II than most people think? Yeah, I mean, I think there's some truth to that. I mean, obviously the history of the Second World War has been very influential for post-war generations. Obviously during the Cold War, the legacy and memory of the war very significantly shaped and contextualized the Cold War conflict. And obviously now today, one of the reasons for doing a program like this is entirely because the generation that participate in the Second World War are passing away at an accelerating rate and we want to make sure that we capture that memory and preserve that memory before it's lost. I think youngsters today therefore tend to know less about the Second World War than earlier generations but I also think their interest in learning and understanding about the Second World War is as strong as ever and that's one of the things that we talked to capitalize on with this program. You know, just a couple examples. We had a couple of students from Ohio who, you know, they work weekend-to-saturday jobs at Kentucky Fried Chicken. They've been saving up for several of them for two or three years to participate in a program like this. When this came along, they jumped on it. This is exactly what they wanted to do. So I think there is an interest. A lot of young people still have relatives, grandparents, friends of friends who still have some connection with the war and some recollection of the war. And I think there is still that interest to learn. And obviously in the last decade or so with some big centenaries, the 75th centenary coming up, that there's been renewed interest and there's been more movies and more documentaries which simulate interest. So I think the interest is there, a desire to learn and I think it's important for professional academics like myself as a historian is to ensure that we preserve that legacy as accurately as possible and convey it to future generations. That's a very important thing to do because obviously a national history can be used to great good and also to not so good purposes. So it's important that we try to preserve and pass on that historical record. Interesting. So idea here, we've got a bunch of students. You're going to collaborate between two institutions, bring those students to Hawaii. So that kind of leads to a couple of different questions. I mean, what kind of students, where are they from? And then leading off of that, what are they going to do? What did they do in this case here in Hawaii? Yes. So the museum brought us students from the mainland. They recruited them, they vetted them, they went through an application process and they were selected for participation. They came from all over the mainland. Undergraduate students, most of them sophomores and juniors, a couple of freshmen, a couple of seniors, they were working on their college degrees back on the mainland and they came to participate in the Pacific Academy and to get that summer special credit and count that towards their respective degrees at the host institutions. And I think the thing that the common denominator was their interest in learning about the Second World War. So they came from all over the US. Obviously, I got to know them during the month they were here and talk to them and, you know, a lot of them have connections to the war. They have relatives that either fought in the war or have reminiscences of their wartime experiences that have been passed down from generation to generation. So they had that curiosity to study and learn about the Second World War. And obviously, you know, Hawaii is an attractive place for mainlanders to come. Most of them had never been to Hawaii before, so they certainly enjoyed the climate and off time going to the beach and exploring the wonderful nature of Oahu. But, you know, the program was focused on their academic study and, you know, they really came committed to learning. We offered a variety of courses for them. We had two seminars on the Second World War itself. We had one focused on the Second World War in Europe, which I was the team and the lead instructor on. These were all team talk classes that we offered. We had a seminar on the Second World War in the Pacific, and then we had additional courses to help contextualize those seminar courses. So Asia-Pacific maritime relations. We had a course on the military history of Hawaii, which, you know, Hawaii-Pacific University created some years ago. And we're still the only institution in the world that offers a course focused exclusively on studying and learning about the military history of Hawaii. So something I helped to create some years ago. It was a very distinctive and unique course that only students can get at Hawaii-Pacific. Interesting. I mean, one of the things I always find kind of surprising is that people, I shouldn't find it surprising, I should say, but I mean, it's interesting you've got perhaps a mixture of sort of preconception ideas or perhaps stereotypes. One, what people not from Hawaii might have about Hawaii, but also what people might have about the Second World War. I mean, are there a couple of things that you found to be of interest, you know, kind of this kind of melange, if you will, of perceptions or preconceived ideas that you were able to work with or educate during the program? Yeah, I think it's, I mean, if you look at the students and you talk to the students and you listen to them in class, clearly, films play a very important role. It always strikes me how frequently a student will say, well, that's not right, because I saw it in this movie and in this movie, it was this way around. And so media plays a very, very important role in creating general perceptions amongst the general public. So movies are very, very influential. Any particular movies, good or bad? Well, I think of ones that were obviously ones, the great classics like D-Day, A Bridge Too Far, these are the ones that students talk about and their views are shaped by them. The media is a very powerful instrument in shaping young minds and always mindful of that. So there were certainly occasions in class where we had to stop and discuss and dispel some of those popular images, popular perceptions of the conflict, which are deeply ingrained in public consciousness and get passed from generation to generation in a variety of media, which films are just one of them. So it's always interesting addressing that and I like to challenge those perceptions and to dismantle them. It's always fun to do that. Students say, what? That's wrong? My view is wrong? Why? And then, so I like to bring to the classroom my knowledge, my expertise and share with them more recent academic scholarship, which have delved down to many of these areas in more detail and can give more accurate framing for the perspectives of young minds. So that's what we try to do. We try to create a program in the day the students left having a greater understanding of the Second World War, having a greater understanding of Hawaii's place in their conflict and a better understanding of the legacies of that conflict for Hawaii, for the United States and for the entire world. And I think we succeeded. I really do. We talked to the students during the program at the end and I've been in contact with some of them since. A few of them keep messaging me on Facebook. They're so still excited and they write me and say, I really miss Hawaii, I really miss the program. And yeah, and then they've been applying their knowledge. A couple of them have already gone back to the home schools and have done things that clearly were applying things that they learned in Hawaii, even things cultural like the importance of aloha in a Hawaiian society. One of them has been posting on Facebook and saying to people, you're not responding here with aloha. And this is cultural knowledge learned and transferred and applied in a different cultural context. And that's great when students do that. So young minds are much more malleable than us older, more mature minds. Inflexible. Inflexible, fixed in our ways. But young minds of art, they're an open book, or a sieve, they suck in knowledge. Some of it sticks, some of it sticks and is retained. Okay, on that note, we're going to take a short break. We'll move right back with you in just a minute. Aloha, my name is Mark Shklav. I am the host of Law Across the Sea. Please join me every other Monday to hear lawyers from Hawaii discussing ways to reach across the sea and help people and bring people together. Aloha. Hi, I'm Donna Blanchard. I'm the host of Center Stage, which is on Wednesdays at two o'clock here on Think Tech. On Center Stage, I talk with artists about not only what they do and how they do it, but the meat of the conversation for me is why they do it, why we go through this. A lot of us are not making our livings doing this, and a lot of us would do this with our last dying breath if we had that choice. And that's what I love to talk to people about. I hope you enjoy watching it, and I hope you get inspired because there's an artist inside you too. Join us on Center Stage at two o'clock on Wednesdays. Bye. Hello. Welcome back to Global Connections. I'm Patrick Bratton. I'm here talking with Russell Hart about the Pacific Academy, a program that HPU linked up with the National World War II Museum in New Orleans to bring students to Hawaii to learn about the history of both World War II and the wider trends about war in society and politics and history in the Asia-Pacific region. Before the break, you were giving us sort of an outline about the student body that came to this program, the academic program, the structure. I mean, but one of the things that I think I'm always struck about you as an educator, as an educational professional, is that, I mean, there's quote-unquote book learning on one side, stuff that you do in the classroom, and you get sort of traditional. But there's also this impact that you stress about sort of experiential learning and getting out and about and seeing history for yourself in a more tactile sense. So what are some of the things that you've done with the program or did with the program in terms of sites, ways of integrating the classes that you guys were doing? Yeah, well, I think experiential learning is fundamental to reinforcing classroom traditional book learning. And so built into Pacific Academy was, were field trips each week in the four-week program. We went on a field trip. We went out to the USS Arizona. We went out to the Bowfin submarine museum. We went to the USS Missouri. We went up to Punchbowl National Cemetery. We went to the Pacific Aviation Museum. We went to Ilani Palace, and we had a downtown walking tour. So, you know, we went to some central sites that are key sites for really immersing yourself and appreciating the impact of the Second World War on Hawaii. And, you know, those are, those are really fundamental in cementing classroom learning. You read this. I mean, I did this, you know, some years ago. I helped organize a study abroad program, went to Vietnam. You know, I've read a lot about the Vietnam War, studied a lot of a fair bit about it. I'm not an expert, but I know quite a lot. I've taught it. And, you know, we went to the Coochie Tunnels, and I was standing there. And, you know, I knew intellectually that this was the most bombed place in human history. And, but until you stand in those craters and look across the river and see Saigon 400 meters away, and you realize that, you know, we couldn't dislodge the Viet Cong from the doorstep of Saigon, then it really brings home to you the tremendous challenge the United States faced in trying to win that conflict. And even though I'd read that in books, seeing it in person really brought that home in a way that reading it in the book simply can't bring home. And so, you know, I've always been a big proponent of experiential learning. So we built this into the program. And I mean, the students really had, you know, a very, I think, often profound experience on some of the field trips. I mean, they came back sometimes somber. You go to the Arizona, it's a very somber experience. It really brings home to you the, you know, the sacrifice that was required to, for victory in the Second World War. So, I mean, they really succeeded in reinforcing the student learning in the program. Interesting. I mean, one of the things that I'm always kind of struck by is that you have a kind of a duality often when people are, duality is not the best word, but I'll roll with that, a duality when people look at war. And in the one sense, you tend to have people who get almost sort of the military history buff thing, you know, well, you know, the cannons on this aircraft were actually 20 millimeter, not 30 millimeter. And they really down in the weeds on, you know, snorkel designs and boot technology and that kind of stuff. And then you have this, which it's all there, the tactics, the campaigns, the sort of guns and trumpet history. But then there's also on the flip side, you also have this, you know, the sort of more general war in society about the effects that a war has on society. And I think that's also something, you know, again, I think Hawaii would have a rich history for, you know, like, for example, you know, the judiciary center that's downtown and they have a very good exhibit, you know, on the history of martial law during World War II, which is not people think about Pearl Harbor, they think about the campaigns of the Pacific, but, you know, having martial law in Hawaii is, you know, it's a chapter. It's a very important part, rather dark chapter in, in World War II history, but it's something that's often sort of overlooked. I mean, is that also something that you sort of utilized in the academy? Oh, absolutely. I mean, you know, war at, at the end of the day, if you, studying military history, studying conflict is about studying the relationship between war and society. You know, societies go to war, societies are impacted by war. And, you know, I can have conversations with students about whether it's a 20 millimeter or 23 millimeter cannon, whatever, I can have those conversations. But the much more important conversations to have is to get students thinking about the consequences and ramifications of conflict. Conflict is a horrendous thing. Conflict is a terrible thing. As a military historian, you know, I abhor war and I study it because to study and understand it is to help prevent it from happening. It's ignorant people who advocate going, going to war. And so, you know, you can take those students to have an interest, enthusiast's interest in military history, buff interest, and you can translate that into a broader understanding of the much larger, much more significant implications of conflict. And so we did this in the Pacific Academy in a variety of ways. And the, and the judiciary centers martial law exhibits is probably the best example of that. You know, Hawaii underwent martial law. It was only about the only place in the United States that was under direct martial, martial law. And that had a very significant impact on civil-military relations in the state of, of the territory of Hawaii, subsequently in the state of Hawaii. It really helped to condition those long-standing complex relationships between local civil society and the U.S. military here to, to today. It saw some very significant reductions in the civil liberties of, of people living, living here. The interment of Japanese Americans and other alien, alien nationals, but primarily Japanese Americans. The transshipment of some of those two interment camps on, on the mainland. The relationship between the local police and the military in the war was one of great complexity and sometimes tremendous tension. It's kind of embodiment of that, of that friction between military control and civil, civil authority that was going to be there long after, long after the conflict. And it's, it's fascinating. And you know, unfortunately we live in a world where we're all so busy that few of us actually stopped to think about how we got to where we are today and the way the things, the things are. Studying the Second World War tells us a lot about, you know, things that are very common here. Strikes people's art, you know. A lot of the number of the mainland students were, why spam so important? Why, why, why so spam? Shells and shells are spammed. Well, this is, you know, spam became a common staple as a consequence of the Second World War. Throughout the Pacific. Yeah, throughout the Pacific. Had to be imported here and became a staple in the local culinary taste. And that's the Second World War. It's a consequence of the Second World War. So in all kinds of ways we, we try to instill in students understanding of those broader societal ramifications of studying the Second World War. And we're not here just to study whether the canon was 20 or 23 millimetres of food. We did that in passing, but much more importantly was understanding about war, understanding about conflict, what a terrible thing it is, what a tragedy it is. Once you engage in conflict, you open a Pandora's box that is, the outcome is very difficult to predict and very, very difficult to control. And this is tremendous repercussions for individuals, for families, for communities, for countries, and for the whole, whole world. So we try to expose students to some of those broader implications and ramifications of of the Second World War here and a place where the society that has been significantly impacted by that conflict, certainly more impacted than many places in the United States. One of the things to kind of go off that that the point that you raise I think is interesting is Honolulu in Hawaii in general, but Honolulu in specific. It's a very good location to do that. I do these walking tours often for students and the students walk around downtown, they walk by buildings, they walk by area, they don't okay, they know there's a Starbucks there, that's the library or whatever. But often times you can sit there and say, hey, well, this building was built by this person for these purposes and it reflects this larger issue, whether it's the Big Five, whether it's threats of invasions in the 19th century, whatever it might be. And for example, like walking by the state capital, you've got the Korean and Vietnam War memorials that probably 80% of the people walking around downtown have never seen. Take the students there and again, it opens up a sort of window into the past and shows them an area and a place they might they would probably walk by. I mean, I think in a sense, I mean, is that something also that you noticed? Well, absolutely. I mean, you know, there's so much of the world that we live in that we really don't see. We go all past it, we drive past it, we're busy, we just don't pay attention. It's there. What is it? We don't know. We don't really care. And I think that's just unfortunately characteristic of contemporary society, which is very progressive and forward-looking. And we really stopped to take a look at the past or how we got to where we are today. So yeah, the experiences I think, I mean, the downtown walking tour was very one that's very interesting and simulating for the students. I think that the punch ball going through the national cemetery really was probably the most influential experience talking that you see, you know, the sacrifice, you know, before your eyes. It's very easy. And we can read numbers to them, you know, 35 million people kill. But you know, until you stand there and you see graves and you see that, you know, some of those graves are still tended. People, loved ones are still bringing flowers and placing them on those graves. It really brings home the profound sacrifice and cost and tragedy of conflict. So that's, you know, I think that's very meaningful and poignant for them. Well, thank you very much for coming and sharing about this program with us, Russell. It's been a pleasure to be here. Thank you, Patrick. All right. I'm Patrick Bratton, closing out Global Connections for today, and I will see you guys next week.