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Mukayama Jr. rose from humble blue-collar Chicago roots to become the first. Asian American to command a US Army division. General Mook. Is the author of Faith, Family, and Flag: Memoirs of an Unlikely American Samurai Crusader.
a book printed under retired Navy SEAL Jocko Willocks Publishing Company. Let's take a listen.
So, my grandfather came here in 1901 because he had invested in the Japanese futures market, Sake, and in us has lost the half of the family fortune, so he decided to come to the States. to gain back that money and then return to Japan.
Well, now it's eighteen years later. And my grandmother is by herself with the five children, And my grandfather's still in America.
So My father is now eighteen years old, and my grandmother says You get on a boat, you go to America, and get your dad to come back. Yeah.
So that's what he did. He gets on a boat. comes through Seattle, Washington and finds his father in Kearney, Nebraska. They move to Colorado and my grandfather buys a boarding house. But what happened was there were waitresses who were Serving the meals.
Well, it turns out the waitresses were more than waitresses. But my grandfather didn't know that when he bought the boarding house because my grandfather was a Christian, which was highly, highly unusual. for Japanese in those days. And so My grandfather, when he found out, this aside operation going on in his boarding house, he shut it down. And needless to say, he lost a lot of clients.
And so My father convinced them to sell it and take the money and go back to Japan. But my father stayed. here in the States He had a love for America. Frankly, he wanted to come here for the opportunity. and the freedom we have.
When he was in grammar school, English was a mandatory language. When my father was an elementary school. in the nineteen hundreds. In fact, He had to memorize in English the Gettysburg Address. when he was in grammar school.
And so he had instilled in him early in his life the feelings of democracy and freedom and opportunity.
So he came here, and wound up in Chicago. in the late twenties. Keep in mind these were legal immigration, I might add. We were here before the war. actually.
And Uh that was a big plus for us because there weren't a lot of Japanese in Chicago at that when the war broke out. I mean there were less than four hundred. total in the whole city. And so We did not have to go to camp. And by the way, when I say camp during World War Two, President Roosevelt signed Executive Order nine zero six six.
which ordered all people of Japanese descent to be forcibly removed and put in camps in the interior of the United States, namely in Godforsaken desert areas, These were your standard concentration camps. they euphemistically referred to them as relocation centers. But anyway, so we had assimilated so well into the community. My dad was known by everyone. Our neighbors actually sent a telegram to our congressman vouching for the loyalty.
Oh, my dad is a US citizen. They didn't even know he wasn't a citizen. They just assumed it. But Our our friends were truly Our friends and neighbours truly rallied around us. And keep in mind there were a hundred and twenty thousand plus.
that were removed and put in camps, two thirds of whom were American citizens. For three years So, you lose everything. You know, if you had a business, you obviously. Couldn't run your business if if you couldn't pay for your mortgage for your home, so you lose your home.
So After the war, When they released all these people from the camps. In our case in Chicago, We were a blue collar, We never owned a home. We always lived in a tenant apartment building. My lawn was a concrete sidewalk. But I never felt poor because my mom and dad had not only assimilated into the community, but they became very strong parts of it.
My father joined the Chamber of Commerce. He had a small retail business. My dad helped with Boy Scouts. We became members of our church. And my neighborhood, frankly, was.
We were the only minority family. Uh, we we went to a grammar school of nine hundred kids. My brother and I were the only minority. You know, we had German, Italian, Polish, we had some Jews. And I never felt poorer.
Because We had such a strong nuclear family. And we all took care of ourselves, and likewise in the neighborhood. The local neighborhood patrol were the mothers because. In those days m a lot of the mothers were stay at home mothers. The church was the main Center of our activities.
I actually was a choir boy. It And then I was in Cub Scouts. and I was in Boy Scouts. A great organization because the motto of scouting was for God and country. And the Cub Scout Pack and the Boy Scout Troop.
were sponsored by our church. And you've been listening to Major General James Mukayama, General Mook. Telling the story of his family's journey to America, starting with his grandfather just trying to recoup some investment losses to his father while just deciding to stay. even as his grandfather returned home. And it's the story of America in the end, this immigrant's tale.
He was the only minority in his ethnic neighborhood, and as he said, we didn't know we were poor. because we had that nuclear family and so many other families around us did too. When we come back, more of Major General Mukayama's story. Here. on our American stories.
This is Lee Habib, host of Our American Stories, the show where America is the star and the American people. And we do it all from the heart of the South, Oxford, Mississippi. But we truly can't do this show without you. Our shows will always be free to listen to, but they're not free to make. If you love what you hear, consider making a tax-deductible donation to OurAmerican Stories.
Go to OurAmericanStories.com, give a little. Give a lot. That's ouramericanstories.com. There's nothing like sinking into luxury. At washablesofas.com, you'll find the Anibay sofa, which combines ultimate comfort and design at an affordable price.
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Listen to everybody's business wherever you get your podcasts. And we continue with Our American Stories and the story of Major General James H. Mukayama. And the story of his family and how they came to to be Americans and my goodness the story he told about the internment camps Look, not all of America's story is perfect or good. And this was a pretty wretched part of our past.
and many Japanese suffered for no good reason. that they were Japanese. Let's pick up where General Mook. left off. I have a daily standard mantra.
which is every day is a great day, I have my faith, my family, And live in the finest country in the world. I say it every day, in fact I do our grocery shopping. And so when I go to the jewel uh grocery store here in the Midwest, all the cashiers want me to come to their their stations. 'Cause they know what I'm going to say. But Uh, when I was born here I hit the lotto.
And so, when I say that mantra, sometimes I get pushback about the. finest country in the world part. And I say, listen, I've been around the block a few times. You know, it does help to be around about eight decades. And so I tell him.
When I joined the military, There had never been an Asian American admiral or general. In our armed forces.
Now, I was not the first, I was about the third or fourth. The the club isn't real large. but I've seen in my lifetime alone The improvements in our society when it comes to racism. We have elected an African American. as a President.
and reelected him.
Now has our country made mistakes? Obviously. But I'll tell you what, we're the only country that I know of. That had a civil war to abolish slavery costing over half a million lives to settle that situation. And our President, who ran on that platform, was assassinated.
He gave up his life. Abraham Lincoln. knowing full well the risk he was taking. And the proof is in the budding. There are hundreds of millions of people throughout the world who want to come to this country.
versus the minuscule few, Who say that, you know, this is terrible and they want to leave. But have I experienced racism? I grew up right after Pearl Harbor. I mean, the phrase remember Pearl Harbor was still sunk in everybody's mind and for a long time, I gotta tell you, I wasn't real happy about going outside on Dece December seventh. But You know, I always considered the source, and frankly, the number of incidents in my life of racism and prejudice.
Are far outnumbered by the goodness of our nation in terms of equal opportunity. And when I was in high school, by the way, As I mentioned, you know, we we didn't have a lot of money, so I had to work hard. to earn money so I could go to college.
So when I was in high school, I played in the band in high school. I became the first chair clarinet in the band. I was the principal woodwind of the orchestra. But I also played in two Combos To make money on de side.
So one was a Polish band, So I I played for Polish weddings, uh, you know, I've since I played clarinet, you know, I was pretty good with polkas and And by the way, by the third set. Everybody was so drunk nobody cared. And of course, here I am, a high school guy, and you know, at weddings and things like that, you know, people buy the banned drinks, right?
So, needless to say, I I was not going to turn that down and so it was that was a good gig. But then also I cleaned another ban which claved for Jewish bar mitzvahs.
So I told people I had them coming or going. Either way, I knew all the synagogues on the north north side and suburbs of Chicago and I I learned very early in life that I have A bad temper. And my wife can attest to that, unfortunately, because although she stuck with me for 52 years now, so. I guess I have some other redeeming qualities, but I knew very early in life when I say early in grammar school that I had a bad temper, so I had to control myself. On the other hand, I was always I was kind of a nerd.
So I was always picked on. Yeah, especially during recess. But I had to control my temper, I knew that. But one day a guy called me a Jap. And I lost it.
Literally I had him on the ground in seconds, and I was on top of him, and I was beating him, and the kids had to drag me off of him. And they all looked in astonishment, and he said Who is this guy? Where's Jim Mokuyama that we know? There is a book years later that I read It was called Wild at Heart. By John Eldridge.
And he starts the book. by talking about his son coming home from school one day, And he looked kinda down, you know, so Eldrit says, Son, what's what's going on? He said, Well, Dad, you know, we got this bully at school. I don't know what to do about it.
So Eldridge tells his son, he said, Son, You go back And you tell the guy to stop, El if he doesn't start. You hit him as hard as you can. Mm-hmm. And I'm sitting there reading this, and I, you know, I get this flashback, and I'm saying, yes. And then My wife is there and she said, What what are y you know, what are you doing?
And I said, I I know that every guy who read that book that story would sit there and say yes. But I knew every woog, who read that story would be in horror You know, they say, No, you can't do that. You can't tell our son to do that. You know, tell him to go tell the teacher. You know, now the good news is that I grew up in the neighborhoods and we had a cold, and The code was you took care of things yourself.
And you didn't tattletale and go to the teacher and cry about, you know, Because Had we done that, kids who were tattletales, they were ostracized. among the kids. I mean, it's the worst thing you could do. And so I fortunately Avoided Having anyone tell the teacher and rat on me.
So I didn't get called, you know, to the principal's office. That that was the thing I feared the most when I was in school because my parents taught me to respect my elders. and to respect my teachers, so if they got called to school for anything you know, I didn't care what the principal was going to do to me, I worried more about what my father was gonna do so My dad told us, my brother and I. Never shame The Mukoyama name That means the family, said and never shame the the Japanese race. But you have been born in America.
You are Americans. This is your Country, this is your homeland. This is where your loyalty lies, and you need to take the best of the Japanese culture. and add that to the American culture. Two in.
make our country the best it can be.
Now my dad, by the way, peop f a lot of people don't know this The Japanese could not become naturalized citizens. of the United States until nineteen fifty two. and my dad had been here since nineteen eighteen, So he was one of the first. to become naturalized.
So he goes downtown to the federal center to be sworn in. And the judge, I I still can't believe this to this day. The judge asked my father, What took you so long to become naturalized? And my father had to give the guy a five-minute civics lesson. And he said, Judge, they just passed the McLaren Act.
This is 1952, which is the first time we've been eligible to become people of Japanese descent.
So, I mean he was respectful, but you know it It's incredible that that could have happened. And you've been listening to Major General James Mukayama, General Mook. Tell his story. His story is a young musician playing in Polish bands and then playing at synagogues, playing Yiddish music and just having a good old time and every once in a while a free drink. And he learned early in his life that he had a bad temper.
And one day one bully pushed him too far. We learned also about what it meant to his father. to be Japanese, and also what the Mukayama name meant. But also that his loyalties were owed to America now. He was an American.
When we come back, more of General Mook's story. Here. on our American stories. There's nothing like sinking into luxury. At washablesofas.com, you'll find the Anibay sofa, which combines ultimate comfort and design at an affordable price.
And get this, it's the only sofa that's fully machine washable from top to bottom, starting at only $699. The stain-resistant performance fabric slip covers and cloud-like frame duvet can go straight into your wash. Perfect for anyone with kids, pets, or anyone who loves an easy-to-clean, spotless sofa. With a modular design and changeable slip covers, you can customize your sofa to fit any space and style. Whether you need a single chair, love seat, or a luxuriously large sectional, Anibay has you covered.
Visit washable sofas.com to upgrade your home. Right now, you can shop up to 60% off store-wide with a 30-day money-back guarantee. Shop now at washable sofas.com. Add a little. to your life.
Offers are subject to change and certain restrictions may apply. In our new podcast, Everybody's Business, we talk about the business news that concerns everybody. From Bloomberg Business Week, I'm Stacey Bannock-Smith. And I'm Max Chafkin. Each week, we unpack what is happening on Main Street and Wall Street and all the streets.
WrestleMania has taken over the U.S. economy. Poetry that executives write on LinkedIn. A little actual magic in our underrated story of the single greatest marketing campaign the music business has ever seen. I decided to ask people how they felt about the penny going away.
Listen to everybody's business wherever you get your podcasts. And we continue with our American stories and with General Mook's story. His family's immigration story. continues. I I just found out a couple of years ago from My wife came across a A wonderful treasure.
of a two hour audio tape of my mother. who uh at eighty four was interviewed and it was an audio tape interview by a researcher. from the University of San Francisco, who is researching Japanese Americans of my m my mother's generation, the interviewer kept on asking her, Well, tell me about your experiences in Wyoming and Nebraska and Wisconsin and Oklahoma and California. Tell me about racism that you experienced. And my mom said I did it.
Okay. This woman could not believe it, and she kept on probing her. And my mom said no. I mean, we were part of the community.
So I my senior year in high school I worked. From five o'clock until ten o'clock at night. Mondays through Fridays, and eight hours on Saturday.
So as a senior in high school I worked thirty three hours a week. You know, I I was pretty busy, but the lesson it taught me was time management, 'cause I really had no time. When I came home at night, I got home probably around 10:30 at night. I had to study. And by the way, I had my best year in high school that year.
I had straight A's. That really made me focus.
So now I'm in college. University of Illinois.
So I'm in the dorms with the roommate, And just like any testosterone-laden guy when I was in high school. One of my favorite readings was Playboy magazine.
So I actually saved the center folds.
So I wallpapered. our ceiling and two of the walls. With playmate centerfolds.
Well, One day my roommate's mother, Came to campus to visit us without noti. She didn't tell us she was coming. Obviously, had she told us she was coming, we would have kind of cleaned up our room. But she didn't tell us, right?
So there it is. We're on the weekend. Knock on the door. This is mother And she walks in and she looks. at the room, and she looks at her son and she says, Ah, Fred.
And then I looked at him and I said, Yeah, Fred. You know, our room was famous on campus. Guys would knock on our door, you know, and I'd say, Yeah, can I help you? No, we're not here to see you, we just want to see your room. When I graduated uh after getting my my master's degree Being an infantry officer, I volunteered for Vietnam.
and the army, in its infinite wisdom, sent me instead to Coria, So I go to Korea, to the second infantry division, which was station on the demilitarized zone or DMZ, which separates obviously the north from the south. Our mission was to defend against Infiltrators from the north So we were going up against the North Korean special operations, and we were trip wires. We knew that if the North was going to come across we'd be pretty well toast.
So I'm on the DMZ. I'm now a platoon leader. for an infantry company, And it was so good. I finally, after eight years of ROTC, In one year of graduate school, I'm finally doing what I was trained to do in life. leading soldiers and it was better than what I thought it would be.
People say, well, gee, you know, how How did you become a general?
Now, I often ask myself that too in astonishment, but and my answer always is I had great non commissioned officers. Those are the sergeants. who made me look good, and I had commanders who mentored me, and they didn't cut my head off when I screwed up, and I did my fair share of mistakes. as a junior officer in So I'm leading this combat patrol, ambush patrol. And Okay.
One day I got a a message that I was to report to the battalion commander. At the battalion headquarters. You know, normally that's not good.
So I get on my Jeep and go down to the battalion headquarters and. and he says Lieutenant Mokayama How are you doing? I said, sir, it's really great. I mean, I'm leading troops and doing. What I've been trained to do for eight years, and I appreciate the opportunity to do that.
And he said I see you have A master's degree. And I said, Uh yes, sir and And then he said, I see you have a degree in English and I and I could see where this is going. The colonel says, Lieutenant, how would you like to be the battalion adjutant? And I said, sir, you know, I'm honored that you would even consider me. But I'm really happy doing what I'm doing now, leading these troops and getting this experience.
And he said, Lieutenant, I'm not looking for happiness in my battalion. said you will report on Monday morning. Yes, sir.
So so Monday morning there I was and I became the battalion adjutant. you know, before I went when I was at the University of Illinois, there was a very popular book that was out, it was called the Ugly American. And that book talked about how we as Americans need to get our act together and when we go overseas and not create a bad image of Americans.
So I had read that book, so I knew when I was in the army, no matter where I'd be assigned, I'd have to be a good Representative of America. And Korea was a wonderful experience for me. There was a local village there, and by the way, that part of Korea was the poorest part of Korea. The government did not invest in it because If The North Koreans were to come across. It would be the first to go.
And so they were very poor, and we basically raised money every payday. I would have a coffee can and I'd put it out there and and we used to get paid in cash. You know, they'd throw in twenty five cents or fifty cents, which was a big deal in those days, and uh we used that money to help the community. My soldiers used to joke that If I ran for mirror of Chiang Puri, I would have won. I'll tell you one incident.
What happened was now I'm the battalion adjutant, and I get a call from one of the companies. And the guy says, Lieutenant, we got a problem. And I said, Uh-oh, you know, those are not the words you want to hear. And so I said, Okay. What what's up?
And he said, Uh We by the way, in those days, keep in mind, this is the sixties, we owned the night. were the only ones who had night vision. Devices. I mean, these were classified top secret. And that's how we owned the night, especially on the DMZ.
and they were called starlight scopes. the night vision devices. And he said uh We had one of our trucks going through the village today and somebody stole the starlight scope. I mean, had that fallen into the hands of the North Koreans? it would have been disaster.
And you've been listening to Major General James Mukayama tell the story of his life, his family's life. His military journey General Mook.
Well, he went to the University of Illinois after Pulling 33-hour work weeks while a senior in high school and still managing straight A's. He said he learned time management. Graduates with a master's. He volunteers for the infantry during the Vietnam War. Not what many people were doing then.
Talk about countercultural and then training eight years to do what he dreamed of doing. leading soldiers, as he said, It was better than I dreamed it could be. And then getting an assignment in the military that he wasn't happy about. Because, well, his commanding officer wasn't really concerned about his happiness. When we come back, More of Major General Mukayama's story, General Mook's story here.
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Upgrade now at washablefas.com. Offers are subject to change and certain restrictions may apply. In our new podcast, Everybody's Business, we talk about the business news that concerns everybody. From Bloomberg Business Week, I'm Stacey Bannock-Smith. And I'm Max Chaffkin.
Each week, we unpack what is happening on Main Street and Wall Street and all the streets. WrestleMania has taken over the U.S. economy. Poetry that executives write on LinkedIn. A little actual magic in our underrated story of the single greatest marketing campaign the music business has ever seen.
I decided to ask people how they felt about the penny going away. Listen to everybody's business wherever you get your podcasts. And we continue with our American stories and with Major General James Mukayama. General Mook. Let's pick up where we last left off.
So I immediately hop in my Jeep, I drive down to the Ville, I go to the Chief of Police, who is a good friend of mine, 'cause I had helped him. with some things. And And I said, Chief, today One of our trucks was going through the village about one o'clock this afternoon. There was a black box. in the back of that truck.
Somebody stole the black box. I didn't tell them what, you know, what was in it. Yeah, and I said I don't care who took it. I don't care why they took it, I need that box back. Within one hour I had the box.
Hmm. When I was in combat, I never once worried about my. personal safety? Uh because I knew if God was gonna take me I'd be in a better place. What I worried about was I was a commander of soldiers.
And I was worried about my responsibility. and screwing up by making a bad decision. Because, you know, when you're when you're leading troops, In combat It's not like you're in business. where if you have a business and it goes bankrupt, You can restart again. But if you're leading soldiers in combat, and you make a mistake.
it can cost lives, the most precious commodity, that any leader has is the lives of his people. And so that's what kept me awake at night, but never Personal safety has not been anything that I've ever worried about. I've had my share of medical Situations from Agent Orange. But Now I am in Vietnam. I was committed.
I was what was called a lifer. I was a naive young gung ho. A regular A Army Airborne Officer, Infantry. But I had I had seen things. when when I was at the headquarters level, I could actually see what was behind the curtains.
and I could see that the army was heading in a direction That was not good. Neither the combat zone. and they're looking for managers, not for commanders. Yeah, it's almost like the woke. Today Then they promoted me to brigade adjutant.
A brigade is about three thousand soldiers. and that position is authorized of major And I'm still a first lieutenant. and when I was in their position, I saw all the Officer efficiency reports for every officer in the in the brigade. Those are your report card. that determines your career.
in the military. And so I looked at the officer efficiency reports or OERs of the battalion commanders. I knew every one of them. I had interacted with them. I knew their capabilities.
I knew their strengths and weaknesses. And If I, Jim Muriyama, were to rate The four battalion commanders, I would have rated them one, two, three, and four. The actual ratings came out four three two one. And so I was not real encouraged by that. I came back to the States.
I resigned my regular Army commission. I join the reserves 'cause I was committed to twenty years, and it turned out to be thirty two, but uh That's what happened in Vietnam. then when I finally retired in 'ninety five' from the military, I started volunteering for veterans' organizations. I was at a medical college in Oregon. giving a speech.
When my wife and I first arrived to the Hotel. We're checking in and we're going up the elevator to our room. And I'm wearing my Vietnam Veterans hat, which I wear every day. Every chance I get. Why do I do that?
I do that to let people know that we have veterans. In our communities, they just don't know it. Not only that, but frankly, it starts up conversations with veterans. At which time, the first thing I mention to the veteran after I meet them is I ask them, are they registered with the VA? And if their answer is no, then I kinda talk to them about fixing that.
But anyway, so we're in this elevator going up. and there's a hotel employee there. And He said, Hey, I served in Vietnam too.
So Anybody who knows veterans, what happens is immediately there's a bond. And we start talking, and I say, Well, when were you there? He was there. same time I was sixty nine and seventy. And then I said, Well, what service were you in?
and he was in the army, so obviously he was a man of great character. And so we get off the elevator and and he's still talking. And then he says Hey, did you hear that there's going to be a general speaking? To which I said, Well, yeah, it's me. Then I gave him my card.
I shook his hand, and I said, Welcome home. My generation was treated so bad. that when you tell people today they can't believe it. When I came back from Vietnam I was told not to wear my uniform. In public.
That's how bad it was. I was in United States Army officer, and I was airborne. uh so I wasn't I I wouldn't have any of that. I wore my uniform. when I came back, but You know, guys were spit on, people threw urine and feces on them and they called them baby killers.
I mean, I had one guy who was a very dear friend of mine. He had been with the Hundred and First Airborne in Vietnam, a platoon leader. He comes back. and he's treated like garbage and and so He goes to his church, he was Catholic, and he went to his priest seeking some understanding and, you know, consolation. And the priest looked at him and he said, You served in the army in Vietnam.
You're going to hell. At which point the guy turned around and he never went back.
Now later on in life. Fortunately he did go back to church, but that's what we encountered. The guys purposely just never talked about their experience. And that unfortunately has led to the high rate of suicide among veterans. in in my generation and The good news for the current generation is that when that happened to us, we all swore that this would not happen to future generations of warriors coming back, and I think we've been fairly successful in that.
So Yeah, I gave my speech that night.
Next morning we're in the parking lot. I'm putting luggage into our car, and who comes running out of the hotel but that employee? And the guy had tears in his eyes, and he said, Nobody has ever said welcome home to me.
So if you know a Vietnam veteran. Instead of saying thank you for your service, Please tell them welcome home I literally display our nation's colors every day. I have a flagpole in in front of my house. I plant the flag. I salute it in the morning.
And then in the evening at sundown, 'cause I don't have a light on the flag, I have another ceremony where I salute the flag and take it down. I want our neighbours to know and to remember the sacrifices of our great nation in the goodness of America. Uh, frankly, the way I judge things is If the United States of America had never existed, the world would be in worse shape. But it's our responsibility as Americans. to live up.
to the foundations of our country. I'm so grateful to live in this nation To have the opportunity to have served with some of the finest people in the world, my fellow soldiers, and to share my life with my wonderful wife, who, by the way, let my parents live with us. for twenty two years. Same house. Imagine two women in the same kitchen, Until they died.
So, I've just been so blessed. And every day is a great day. I have my faith, my family. lived in the finest country in the world. And a terrific job on the editing and storytelling by our own Greg Hengler.
And a special thanks to Major General James Mukayama. General Mook. to people who know him. And people who care about him. He's the author of Faith, Family, and Flag: Memoirs of an Unlikely American Samurai Crusader.
A book printed under retired Navy SEAL Jocko Willinks Publishing Company. Pick the book up wherever you get your books, Amazon, or the usual suspects. And what a story he told. When I was in combat, I never worried about my personal safety. I'm worried about screwing up.
When you're leading soldiers into combat, It can cost lives. By the way, that story of the Vietnam vet thanking him for saying welcome home. tells you everything. The story of the first Asian American to command a U.S. Army Division.
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