this is 45 minutes. >> you go first. >> thank you for that very generous and very wonderful introduction. i know who he was talking about, and part of it, i didn't recognize you, allen, at all. you know, i just want to thank all the people who have been mentioned this morning from t s this. i want to thank all of you for taking time from your very busy scheduled to be here today. there is no question that this has been a work of love by allen and me and all the hundreds of others who have been involved. i'll tell you, this morning when i walked in and walked into the portion of that display of what t it looked lieke when we first arrived and what it looks like with improvements that were made by the residents of this camp it really hit very very hard. you know, i met allen simpson here as a boy scott in 1943, and i was thinking, allen, we are back under a tent again. >> ours was smaller. >> ours was a lot smaller. i could always say i first met allen when he had hair and he was rolly polly. >> since hthen he lost his hair and rolly polliness. there's nothing wrong with man love thch love. this is a man i really love. but as shirley said, this is not about the past. this is about the future. the reason it's about the future is that history alms has the ability to repeat itself. what you are doing here is drawing that line in the sand to say that never again will there be something like what happened here at heart mountain and other locations ever ever happen again in this country, and yet i know from my own work that it can happen. it came very close on september 11th, 2001. i was secretary of transportati transportation. i grounded all of the airplanes and the whole issue about what's the regimen under which the security would be performed when those airplanes went back up. there were a lot of people who were saying don't let middle easterners back on the airplanes. they were rounding them up. it is similar to what many of us had experienced when we were profiled as one of the largest experiences in racial profiling i remember in a cabinet meeting on the 13th of september when we met with the house and senate leaders, republican and democrats and congressman david from michigan said we have a very large group of arab americans who are concerned about the rhetoric they are hearing he said david, you're absolutely correct. we are concerned and we don't want to have happen today what happened to norm. the united states of america made that kind of a declaration. so that's what our job, to make sure that what happened in the past remains in the past and that vigilant and the protection constitutional -- now, i'm on the stage with some giants who helped in a legislative effort to make sure something like this never ever happened again, lead by daniel kay. lead by senator allen simpson and i had a little part to play in that role but this gentleman behind me was a boy scout. he came into our camp. he said we are not coming in there, barbed wire, military guard towers, machine guns e search of lives. we are not going in there. they go into the same so the boy scott troop came in. we did our knot tieing contest, our how to start a fire without a match, all of these things that boy scouts do. >> don't go any further. [ laughter ] in '74 i was elected to the house of representatives and he was elected to the u.s. senate in 1978. our friendship went back immediately as if we were still sitting in camp in a tent here in heart mountain. so it gives me a great deal of pleasure to introduce my friend of equal height because i know he measures people from the neck up [ cheers and applause ] [ laughter ] >> so without any further adieu, let me introduce allen cay simpson. >> they threw away their notes and said we are going to talk from the heart. it's all you can do for me today. i'll be very careful [ laughter ] there was nothing between them these two cities named after two of the most famous people in the world. wesley powell and buffalo bill cody. go out there and see people who dechbt know where japan was and see people when you go in and there would be a grandmother. she would say do you have a grandmother? i would say i do soond it because very puzzling time. it said no japs allowed or you killed my son this is confusing stuff for a 12-year-old. we were proud of what you have done. it's wan big switch. [ cheers and applause ] and that's the mayor of cody there. she is there today, nancy. shirley, thank you for what you have done. you have named the people. don't forget, there were people here after the war especially when the gi's came back and they gave the gi's all of the land, if you were a veteran you got 168 and then the water came or the water was coming. and so out here were people who had been shot at and missed and shot at and nearly missed and they were not exactly sympathetic to the japanese. through the years there were two or three or four people who said we need to commemorate this and there were people especially in veterans organizations who said the hell we will. they hung on and succeeded. he said i didn't light the fire upstai upstairs. it will create concern in a home. [ laughter ] and they lit the fire. those people lit the fire and you have lit the fire. so the thing i say about -- and danny, there aren't many giants in the senate anymore. he is one. he is an amazing guy. and when he told me one time there was not enough money around tehe elk preserve he sai keep talking. i may give it to you. she a giant of the senate and there are few left. as for my little pal, he came to harvard. when i called him i said i'm teaching at harvard. his laughter rever brated. he said you're kidding. this is nuts. i said i couldn't get into harvard if i picked the locks but by god i want you to come up here and talk to these young kids. they were protesting about the santa fe gentleman and norm came and put on -- it was absolutely fantastic. he said quit carrying signs. you just make them and carry them. get in the game. get into the county commissioner. go for the race. get in the school board. don't just sit out here with a sign. the real thing about this man is that i equate him with nelson mandela who was imprisoned by his own people of his own country and came out of there without a shred of bitterness, without a shred of pity and said what the hell, it happened, you move on. so one final little social note he just did a back flip on heart mountain and wandered in here. he is going out again. i would pay the same tribute. hugging and kissing and smashing our glasses. you have got it. and so there isn't a question about it. i love this man. [ cheers and applause [ cheers and applause ] please give him a round of applause. [ applause ] . i want today read a little bit out of greatest generation. it inspired me as a young japanese american child to decide to go to law school which senator had done. he graduated from the george washington university school of law. part of what made me decide i wanted to be a lawyer and be an advocate was the outrage i felt as a child. the senator risked his life for this country. when i read a passage where i found he was hit by a bullet through his abdomen, hitted his back and barely missed his spine and he continued to charge forward but he was confronted with german enemies. he threw two grenades before the germans hit him with a rifle launch grenade. his right arm was shattered. he pried the third grenade out and threw with his left. he continued to fire with an automatic weapon, covering the withdraw for his man. he continued onward. finally he was knocked out of action but another bullet and let the german position to be neutralized. 25 germans were dead and in a way took eight prisoners of war this is a true hero. it will never ever experience something like this again, but the part that really angered me as a young girl was that arei r about the fact that he was went to get all for his mom and dad. they wouldn't serve him because he was a ja pnchp. he was wearing his uniform and medals. i didn't make a difference because that barber said we don't cut jap hair here. he was very angry but he left. he said i feel very very sorry for you. i appreciate everything he has done but most of all i appreciate that he is a great role model far younger generation. the younger generation as well as all over the united states need to look at him as a continued model. >> he introduced me in 2002. so it's with great pleasure that i introduce him today as our keynote speak of. [ applause ] >> i know this jury any is sad and bitter. for some of you it will be a learning experience. as i have pointed out, yes, we are now looking into the future but to forget the past we may find ourselves repeating the past. very important. so i would like to share with you some of my memories. 20 years ago in preparation for the observance of december 7th, 1941 a national pole was taken among high school seniors in the 50 states. the question was a very simple one. what is the significance of the date, december 7st, 1941? over 50% had no idea what it was. you can imagine what it is. i hope it doesn't happen here. well, for me it was not a simple memory but it was a sunday getting ready for church, looking at the mirror, putting on my necktie, listening to the music. all of a sudden the disk jocky came on and he started screaming into the mic. pearl harbor is being bombed. the japs are bombing pearl harbor. i thought it was part of a program. it kept ongoing so i took my father and looked down towards pearl harbor and you could see puffs, black puffs up in the air all of a sudden three aircrafts flew over, gray in cover with the rising sun on the wing. at that moment i knew my life had changed. >> a few weeks later we learned that it designated all japanese citize citizens. one is physically and mentally alert, fit to serve the united states in uniform. >> it is a designation of an enemy alien. to think i was an enemy alien at that point was not only horrifying, it was insulting. so like many others i join in petitioning the governing of the united states to let us demonstrate our love and loyalty. well, it did happen. in 1943 we were permitted to volunteer. here again i still remember the day we left hawaii, and this was a time some saw their parents for the last time. some parents saw their sons for the last time. instead of a glorious march to the ship we had to carry our duffel bags and keep in mind, we just were in service for just a few weeks, not in condition. clothes didn't fit well, dragging ourselves about a mile walking and along the way thousands of family members, parents, brothers and sisters and i can still remember that voice. this woman was calling her son. then i saw a woman rush out, an elderly woman, to try to embrace her son. they came in and said get the hell out. that was the departure that we remember from hawaii. then when we got to oakland we were rushed into cranes that were waiting for us. we couldn't understand if shades were up and people saw us they might have thought we were prisoners of war. so we saw very little of cities and towns but we saw yellowstone. we saw the open space of this country. well, when we got into mississippi it was a strange experience. we were joined later in about two weeks bay large contingent of men from the mainland from california, washington and oregon. some how they looked a little different. they were fairer. they were neater. they spoke beautiful english. and they were gentle. on the other hand we came from plantations and we had our own brand of english that no one could understand. so ever so often a mainlander would smile or laugh and a fistfight would begin. what are you laughing about? [ laughter ] >> and this went on and onto a point where the senior commanders of the 442 felt that something had to be done other wise this unit would have to be disbanded. oh, social hours, none of these worked. then suddenly we received an invitation from a place called gerome, arkansas. we thought it was a community with a large contingent of japanese americans. oh, so we are looking forward to it. ten men were selected from each company. and all of them were noncommissioned officers. i was a low-ranking corporal and i was selected. when we began our trip we noted that there were no mainlanders in there, just men from hawaii. then the machine gun towers and we were greeted by men in similar uniform but with rifles. we knew something was wrong. ton way home there was no singing and i think everyone in that car, that truck was the question. would i have volunteered? it took a lot of guts to come out and do something the majority did not agree with. it takes a lot of courage. these men stood their ground and they got their feelings across. many were condemned and some spent time in prison. but they memories of war. here i am 18 years old. i'm a corporal. and the following hour, an hour from this moment we'll be in combat for the first time to kill and be killed. obviously somebody must have been thinking about something because the following day you're out to kill or be killed. the 11 men there gave the same answer in different ways. i hope i don't bring shame to the family. i hope i don't dishonor my country. everything was on honor. not a single one said i hope i don't get hurt. i hope i don't die. that remained with me throughout all the battles of the following 12 months, that these guys were willing to go through not fearing death or injury. well, i have been introduced here as a great hero, as one who has been in war let me tell you that i'm not a hero. there are times when you have temporary insanity. you do things which you won't think of doing today, but more importantly i think i was just lucky. for example, i was pretty good in patrolling, so the commander would call upon me to go on special patrols, and this was in preparation for the crossing of the arnold river, a major battle, a very dangerous one because the enemy is on one side and you're out in the open in the water being shot at. so he wanted me to go across the river, see what the germans have, which i did at night, spent about six hours in the water, looked over, came back early the following morning, reported to the headquarters and then i went back to my company area to undress and wipe myself clean. well, i have ingrown toenails. i don't know if any of you have ingrown toenails. it's not very glamorous, but it can be painful. so here i was, my toes were blue from infection. the big man looked at that and said my god, what's happening here? he said you better go and see the doctor. i saw the doctor. the doctor says i'm calling up to put you on a plane right now to go to rome. what for? he said if you leave it alone you may have to cut your foot off. here i am in a hospital in rome having my toes pulled out and when the patients in that hospital found out that i was there for ingrown toenails you can imagine the treatment i got. but the gist of the story is as a result of that i missed the crossing of the river. half of the regimen were casualties. i missed that battle. how do you account for that? i'm not a hero i'm just lucky. then the lost battalion. oh, we hear a lot about the lost battali battalion. it was an important battle. it is so important the pentagon is determined -- if you can imagine this young sergeant in charge of this platoon i'm wait are for the moment when we cross the line, a messenger comes crawling up and says they want to see you. i get back to the headquarters area. ca captain, what's up? he gave me an envelope. the only thing i would think of is that am i being called marshal for something? try to think back if i have done anything wrong. so i got on the jeep and they drove me back to headquarters. i hadn't opened the envelope. it was a commission to make me an officer. by that time it is night, and so the doctor says stick around here and go back tomorrow morning. when i got back the battle of the lost what toll tbattalion w concluded. my platoon had only 11 remaining. i'm just lucky. and on my last battle when my arm was torn off it took nine hours to evacuate me. today a similar injury would take about half an hour. you get on the helicopter and you go to the hospital. but in those days you have to be carried by a stretcher. nine hours. as a result there's a single double amputee vsurvivor. it took so long to evacuate us. so here i am in a tent about this size. stretchers all lined up, hundreds of them. you have about three or four teams of doctors and nurses going up and down checking them out, mumbling a few things. number one, number two, number three. number one meant send them out to surgery right away. number two, he's okay. he can wait. number three, god bless you. you are either did or you're going to die soon. the doctors come by, listen to my heart and all that and moved away mumbling. then two minutes later the chaplain comes by and he says son, god loves you. i said chaplain, i love god too, but i'm not ready to see him yet. and you know, the chaplain took me seriously, thank god. went up to the doctors and the doctor came back and said send him off right away. i had my first surgery and here i am. that's little footnote. there's a little footnote to all of this, we were then attached to the 92nd division. i don't know if you have heard of the 92nd but it is a division made up of african americans. so all of the hospitals were run by the 92nd division, and in those days instead of plastic bags blood came in bottles. each bottle had a tape, name, rank, serial number, outfit. i was conscious when i received 17 bottles of blood, all of them from the 92nd division. so i think i got more african american blood than most. >> but some how my hair is still straight. well, then he smoke about oakland and the haircut, but the real mind boggler was when i got back to honolulu, a place where racism is not supposed to exist, but we did have segregated school systems. po people don't know that. here i am. i'm home and a friend of mine, having heard i was home from the hospital call med up and said we are having lunch together. soy went so i went to this restaurant in honolulu, a nice big restaurant and i was told don't you know we don't serve people like you? i was stunned. well, so you can ask yourself the question, was it all worth it? when you keep in mind that a regimental combat team has 5,500 men 12 months after combat during that period we went from 5,500 to 12,000. they all are replacements. you can imagine the casualties were rather severe, but was it worth it? i said yes because as a result most of you may not know this but in 1924 the congress of the united states passed a law, asian exclusion act in which japanese immigration stopped and from that point on japanese, if they wanted to be naturalized could not be naturalized. well, thanks no to the work of people like norman and others it was repealed in 1952 it paid off. in 1959 hawaii became a state. keep in mind that in all of the 49 states there is a majority group made up of european white people. in hawaii there's no majority group, but the largest segment was the asian group, japanese, chinese, koreans, philippineos. of that number about one-third were japanese. so even in hawaii it was strong opposition to state hood, but in 1959 hawaii became a state, got lek elected at that moment. in 1988 it had something to do with that. the redress bill passed. it wasn't easy for america or any country how many asians for that matter? it was worth it. was it worth it? yes, i think so. >> and the work has just started. it will play an important role in reminding people that it did happen in this great nation. if we don't watch ourselves it could happen again. it is very important it is helping to keep this going, helping to advertise it, learning so it won't happen again. i want to thank all of you for inviting me to share some of my thoughts. it wasn't easy to come here but i wanted to be here. aloha. watch cspan. >> this congress is going to be the busiest congress we have had in decades. live tuesday, february 28th at 9:00 p.m. eastern on cspan and csp cspan.org. in case you missed it here are clips of cspan's programming last week. >> it is going to legalize the sale of inexpensive insurance. it will expand health savings accounts so people can save to buy their insurance. they can use it for detuductibl for vitamins, weight loss. it also allows individuals to join an association so they are not left out in the cold in a small insurance pool. >> after ashton kutcher shared his. >> i have been on fbi raids where i have seen thing that is no person should ever see. i have seen video content where childs the same age as mine being raped by an american man that was a sex tourist. this child was so conditioned by her environment that she thought she was engaging in play. >> on gun background checks for mentally ill citizens. >> the government is esz enshlgly saying that a person with a disability such as an eating disorder is more likely to be violent and should no longer be allowed to own a gun. there is no evidence to support that general idea. >> at a news conference house snort leader nancy pelosi spoke out about trump's policy agenda. >> law-abiding immigrants and embraces putin. they are deeply upsetting, cruel and designed to spread fear. it is a division that makes america less strong and more fareful. >> nominee for medicaid and medicare service at her confirmation hearing. >> i am extremely humbled to be sitting before this committee after being nominated by the it president of the united states. it is a testament to the fact that the american dream is very much alive for those willing to work for it. >> all cspan programs are available on our home page or by searching the video library. >> each week american history tv's reel america brings you films that help tell the story of the 20th century. on february 19th, 1942 president franklin roosevelt issued executive order 9066 leading to