A favorite program that started with interviews of Club Veterans Sharing their military Experience on Veterans Day evolved into a special series that was rekindled on Friday, February 18th. Laurie Westover interviewed our own Hawaiian legend, Amelia (Aunty) Mimura who was raised on the Kalaupapa Island of Molokai. In Hawaii, Aunty and Unko (Uncle in Standard English) are used as a sign of respect towards elders. Either reference is to show respect for your Ohana (family).
Aunty is incredibly special to this writer. She is a dear friend and is like family to me and my wife. Aunty is one of 21 children and the 7th born to her parents.Six brothers above her and she was the first girl and her mother had two sets of triplets back-to-back, all girls, after Amelia was born.
Amelia was on Oahu during the attack on Pearl Harbor when she was eight years old. Her family was visiting one of her grand uncles on Oahu. Fortunately, her uncle had a bomb shelter on site. It was incredibly sad to have something like this happen, she says. Very scary for an eight-year-old girl. But her mom and dad made sure she and her siblings were safe.
She met a member of the 442, a Japanese battalion who ended up becoming her husband. His sergeant was Daniel Inouye who later became a United States Senator for Hawaii. Her husband was with the M Company for six years and never shared his war experience with the family.
That changed when a doctor friend's son was doing a project on the 442 and asked to interview her husband. The interview included filming of the interview and it was the first time she ever heard her husband's experience in the war including his M Company involvement with Italian Dictator Mussolini.
More background: Amelia speaks fluent Hawaiian. Her parents did not speak English. So, when her husband wanted to ask her dad for permission to marry her, Amelia had to translate the request for him. An amazing husband who became a self-taught pilot flying for one of the local airlines in their early marriage before moving to Los Angeles and an incredible career with American Honda for both. Amelia was the first woman to drive a fork truck. She still holds a motorcycle license and made numerous trips around the United States with her husband. He read books and was always learning. There is so much more to cover about an incredible life or Aunty.
During their 2015 family reunion, there were 360 family members celebrating the reunion on their 40-acre plantation on Molokai. The plantation grows coffee, macadamia nuts, purple sweet potatoes which are under contract to Japan. This was a very inspiring interview and one of the best programs we have had at our Friday meetings.
If you want to hear Amelia's conversation with Laurie, here is the link to our YouTube channel or you can simply go to YouTube and search for Lake Stevens Rotary. So much more to learn that is impossible to list all of her incredible life.