-I've been working on this project for the past 20 years.
It's probably the hardest thing I'll ever do in my life.
♪♪
For me, this project is to help other families
to talk like my family never had a chance to.
♪♪
[ Camera shutter clicks ] Good.
And nice smile again. [ Laughs ]
-If a picture is worth a thousand words,
then Shane Sato's are for words never spoken.
-Look at you. Yep.
Look at me. Good.
Okay, you're looking right here.
Little more.
Good.
-For years, he's been taking portraits
of World War II veterans from the famous
442nd regimental combat team, the 100th Battalion,
and the Military Intelligence Service,
those Japanese American troops
who courageously fought for the same country
that had imprisoned many of them and their loved ones,
and while most of us have heard their stories,
their families have not.
-My family -- we never spoke very much.
We didn't talk.
My mom's side -- I knew they went to camp.
My mom would always say, "Oh, it's not a big deal.
I was young. It didn't bother me too much."
My dad would just not really say much.
You know, as a kid, I started to believe that.
I thought, "Oh, it wasn't that important.
History is not important."
-History was lost on Shane.
You see, after the war, it was common
for the next generation of Asian Americans
to assimilate, to blend in at all costs.
-Your friends, as they board the bus to leave the center,
are going to new experiences and to a better way of living.
-I didn't think of myself as Japanese.
I just thought of myself as American.
I thought that every kid ate
Swanson TV dinners and chicken pot pies.
I do remember when I was in about the fourth
or fifth grade, I was doing a school report on Japan.
The the teacher said, "Oh, Japanese,
it's too many syllables, so just abbreviate it to 'Jap.'"
I brought that paper home to my mom, and she looked at it.
And she was really mad, and I couldn't figure it out.
So I asked her, "Mom, why are you so mad?
It's just 'Jap.'
"It's just a very bad word.
You should never say that, nor should it ever be taught."
And I said, "Why? What's wrong with 'Jap'?
Why can't I say it?
Jap, Jap, Jap, Jap, Jap."
And she just went ballistic
and said, "That's what they said --
That's what they called us when they took us away to camp."
And I remember my focus changed, and I said, "Camp?
What's camp?
How come I didn't get to go to camp?"
And she said, "You don't want to go to camp."
♪♪
-So when an opportunity to photograph
these fading heroes arose, Shane took a chance.
Over time, he noticed a change in himself.
The more pictures he took, the more he understood
his family's struggle for acceptance in America.
History finally began to weigh on him.
-For me, it really strikes a chord
because their story
and the history as part of my family,
to have to prove that they were loyal Americans
to a country who actually put them in prison
just because they were Japanese.
Could I do that?
And I have to say, I don't know if I could do that.
-What's special about this book is that the pictures are mixed
with those unspoken words, those stories and emotions
many of the veterans kept just to themselves until now.
♪♪
-Alright.
-Is it on?
-Yeah.
-The Medal of Honor ribbon.
-What do you know? For Christ's sake,
I haven't seen you in a long time.
We're joining the Army again, I guess.
-For the veterans,
this is one last chance to put on their uniforms.
-Can't believe that he's gained so much weight
and nothing fits.
-The fact that Jimmy came, I was super excited
because I knew that would be the last time he ever puts on
his colonel uniform, and he said he gained weight.
He just got out of 10 cancer treatments.
So he's eating well,
which made me really happy that it didn't fit him.
♪♪
-This one fits. -This one does fit, yeah.
-This is going to be good.
This is his jacket.
-Wow, that's great.
Once they had the uniforms on, it did change their persona.
It did change how they felt.
-Put it on.
You forgot how heavy they were, didn't you?
-It seemed like they were back in that time.
They felt that pride, and they definitely had that strength.
It showed a different side to them
that they don't always show everybody.
These are Nisei Japanese men.
Luckily, I'm able to somehow draw some of these emotions out.
Otherwise, they would all just stand there motionless.
♪♪
-Pull that in through there.
We went up to his room,
and I said, "Well that's a Class B uniform.
You wore that?"
He says, "Yeah."
I think you feel proud to put it on.
♪♪
-The race against time for them to see the book
is definitely now.
[ Woman speaking indistinctly ]
-Not long after his book was published,
Shane was able to give his book to veterans and their families.
The impact was immediate and profound.
-Oh. Feel very proud.
Little sad, too.
I miss him a lot.
♪♪
-The picture shows him perfectly.
That's Frank.
-That's what I used to be. [ Laughs ]
♪♪
-Very meaningful, especially these older guys.
I consider myself young -- 91.
[ Laughs ]
It's a good way to preserve history.
-I hope that we learn from our mistakes of the past
and internment and anything that's close to that
never happens again.
This happened just 70 years ago.
History can repeat itself
if we don't continue and remember these stories.
Many Nisei fought and died for my future.
They went go for broke,
and now it's my turn to carry the torch
and help the younger generations remember them
and keep their spirit alive.
♪♪