1. Thank you, KL! Great DVD! Uncle Willy Okino Thompson has Hung Wai’s speech video when the VVV honored him in 2000. Hung Wai had irrepressible pizzaz!! He had his boys in stitches when he said that the best part of the gala event was the cocktail
opener! What a people-person! Uncle Willy, like all the 100th/442nd boys, worships this
remarkable Chinaman! When Jesus said let us drink by the water, Hung Wai took that to
affirm the cocktail hour!

2. Hung Wai’s UH mentor Charles Hemenway knew that Charles’ finest protege/understudy Hung Wai was best suited as intermediary between military-law enforcement/civilian authorities, & hitherto sole civilian advisor to military Hemenway had FBI’s beneficent Bob Shivers handpick Hung Wai to lead the pre-WWII Council for Interracial Unity. After the Pearl Harbor attack, Shivers had Hung Wai lead the Morale Committee as the key link between
military/civilian authorities. Irrefutably, Hung Wai had the people skills/persuasive-disarming-charmingly infectious personality to move mountains in a blink/wink of an eye. Hung Wai had the complete backing of Merchant St. boss Frank Atherton [Big 5 godfather], who adored/respected Hung Wai. As you know, Atherton’s Castle & Cooke ohana enabled Chinese upward mobility & supported Hawai`i-bred Sun Yat Sen, father of modern China. Charles Hemenway was nearly Atherton’s equal as Big 5 oligarch, though
Hemenway is regarded as the template/genesis of UH Manoa. Hemenway’s only son died tragically, & Hemenway took in Hung Wai & Hilo’s Shigeo Yoshida as Hemenway’s spiritual sons.

3. Yes, Shigeo Yoshida 1907-1986 Hilo High ’26 alumnus is our greatest AJA historymaker [averted
buddahead mass internment], but Hung Wai Ching is our greatest AJA enabler, way more impact than Yoshida [genesis of 100th/VVV/442nd/Statehood culmination]. Not only in public altruism, but also in personal beneficence. Hung Wai is the auspicious sugar
daddy to innumerable suffering souls, among them his 100th boys, for whom he secured their Ala Wai club facility. Name any local joe/jane — in some sense, he/she has been bestowed w/grace/generosity by Hung Wai. That’s why Hung Wai, a bigtime baron in
his era, died broke-okole — he gave it/others his all — he gave away everything he had. Unlike his rich peers/hoarded wealth/Christian miserliness–WASP austerity, Hung Wai was the complete opposite — a Jesus sans robe/donkey/cane. Look at Hung Wai’s
baby brother Hung Wo Ching [Hung Wai 1905-2002][Hung Wo 1912-1996], millionaire investor/power broker [Dem godfather Jack Burns' financier] — Hung Wo’s name
immediately flashes owner Aloha Airlines [Kukuihaele's Ruddy Tongg, Mike's dad, was the original owner] — Hung Wo’s name stirs awe — whilst Hung Wai’s name is relegated to the dustbin of forgotten social/political history. But yet Hung Wo’s legacy falls far short of Hung Wai’s incomparable feats/historymaking events. Minor vs. major in impact/results. Japan/China trust us because of Hung Wai [restored faith that America is not condescending vs. Asians -- LBJ/Sam Rayburn (Congress bosses) always thanked AJAs for the rescue of Texans LBJ/Rayburn's Alamo lost battalion. President Truman opened up the colorblind military as a result of unity of service by diverse ethnicities (Negroes/Asians/Latinos/etc.)]. East Asian prosperity today is a direct result of Hung Wai Ching’s uplifting of down & out buddaheads here. Love, –Curt

“Charles Hemenway had a personal and active and continuous interest in his fellow residents — it was his exceptional ability to recognize the problems of people that gave him such a hold on the respect and affection of those who knew him. So this quiet, unassuming, soft-spoken, often self-deprecating man became a positive force in territorial development, the extent of which can hardly be measured. Some of these monuments in human form lie below the ground –
under simple white crosses in the battlefields of Europe — which are testimony to his belief that young men who live by American ideals will die for them.”

Okay, Wally Farrington, Star-Bulletin owner & Riley
Allen’s boss [Texan Riley was magnanimous editor 1912-1960], was a political ingrate [though from Puritan New England woods like our missionaries in Hawai'i], yet kept flaming civil libertarian Riley on for a whole lifetime as prescient editor. Of course, Wally’s son was the incomparable Statehood Joe Farrington, who really pushed hardest/longest for Statehood because of the Massie Case [which fueled talk of a military commission gov't in Hawai'i], Jones-Costigan Act which taxed/tariffed Hawai’i sugar like foreign import levies, & proposed rescission of 3 yr. residency requirement for Hawai’i appointed governor by Interior Dept., among other factors. In other words, no home rule, no fair play, all these drove Joe Farrington to crusade for Statehood. Joe was the People’s champion, despite being GOP. –Curt