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Making his country proud
  
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Filmmakers create documentary with help from students on the life of a Japanese American serviceman.
By Joyce Rudolph
Robert Horsting is combining his two passions — history and filmmaking — in his new documentary “Citizen Tanouye,” and making some inroads into promoting peace and ending hate and intolerance.
The Glendale resident and his friend Craig Yahata of Valencia have co-directed and produced the documentary that is based on the life of a Japanese American who was killed while serving in Italy during World War II.
The documentary has won several awards at film festivals and will be broadcast this week on American Public Television stations, including KLCS. It is being screened as part of American Public Television’s Asian Pacific American Heritage Month observance.
The film is about the life of Medal of Honor recipient Tech. Sgt. Ted T. Tanouye, a 1938 graduate of Torrance High School.
Tanouye received the Medal of Honor after he was wounded in July 1944. He was then killed in late September 1944 by an enemy mine, Yahata said.
The high school alumni association was going to unveil a monument to Tanouye and its president asked Yahata to make a 10-minute film they could show to students, Yahata said.
“The 10-minute short ended up as a one-hour documentary,” Yahata said, adding that it took most of 2004 to complete as they worked on the project part time.
The filmmakers thought the story might have more appeal to a younger audience if young people told it, so they selected eight students to help with research, and filmed them along the way, Yahata said.
The footage of the students was intertwined with what the filmmakers had gotten from people who knew Tanouye, he said.
The students’ participation was part of the reason the documentary was accepted for national distribution by American Public Television, Funkhouser said.
“We felt ‘Citizen Tanouye’s’ multilayered story line, success at various festivals and timeliness for Asian-American Heritage Month made it an easy choice for national distribution,” he said. “It’s a well-produced documentary that, through the eyes of students, pays tribute to one of the heroes of ‘the greatest generation,’ a popular topic among public television viewers.”
Students of varying ethnic backgrounds — Iranian, Korean, Japanese and Caucasian — were selected to help on the project, Yahata said.
The two Korean students got a lesson in forgiveness through the interviewing process, Horsting said. There has long been tension between Koreans and Japanese following the invasion of Korea by the Japanese.
Filmmakers took the two Korean students to a Japanese monument in Little Tokyo and introduced them to a Korean former lieutenant who was assigned to lead the Japanese unit during the war, Horsting said.
“The students were shocked to see a Korean American sitting and talking to Japanese veterans,” Horsting said.
One of the students, Billy Kim, asked the former lieutenant how he felt about being assigned to a Japanese unit.
“He told Billy his superior officer asked if he wanted a transfer, but his reply was, ‘I’m American. We’re here to fight for America’ and he stayed,” Horsting said. “Billy realized at that point that it’s not about being Korean American or Japanese American, we’re all Americans.”
But Horsting’s main task was to locate veterans who had served with Tanouye in the 442nd Regimental Combat Team, which was made up of Japanese American soldiers.
“[Horsting’s] strong point is making the contacts,” Yahata said. “He found soldiers who had fought next to Ted during some of the battles, and tracked down a lady who hired him to work at the market right out of high school. She filled in several gaps we didn’t know about while he was growing up.”
Horsting’s participation in the project began in July 2001. He was a graphic designer creating packaging for Mattel toys.
“I got burned out,” he said. “It was a frustration. Things were done by committee. I needed something to get passionate about.”
He had no training in filmmaking, but had always wanted to make a documentary and loved history, particularly World War II, he said.
Growing up in Amsterdam he had heard about the European and the Asian theaters, and started doing research. It led him to the Go For Broke National Education Center and its oral history program, which documents stories of Japanese American World War II veterans.
They were looking for volunteers to do the interviewing and offered to teach participants skills in videotaping, sound recording and interviewing, Horsting said.
“I was going to get all the skills taught to me to do a film and the topic was of interest to me,” he said. “I was fortunate they had an orientation coming up the next month, August 2001. I’m still volunteering with them.”
Over the next six years he conducted more than 85 interviews and did the video taping, sound monitoring or transcribing for more than 75 other interviews, he said.
In 2001, he met Yahata who was creating a documentary called “Tradition of Honor” for the Go For Broke oral history program. Horsting volunteered with the project.
That project led to the collaboration on “Citizen Tanouye.”
“Working with the kids, it was heartwarming, how they connected to the history,” he said. “When you hear from people who lived it, history jumps off the page. It becomes real to you. It motivates and excites you. The kids were able to express themselves in ways that seemed very profound at times. And they really linked with the story they were discovering.”
The Glendale resident and his friend Craig Yahata of Valencia have co-directed and produced the documentary that is based on the life of a Japanese American who was killed while serving in Italy during World War II.
The documentary has won several awards at film festivals and will be broadcast this week on American Public Television stations, including KLCS. It is being screened as part of American Public Television’s Asian Pacific American Heritage Month observance.
The film is about the life of Medal of Honor recipient Tech. Sgt. Ted T. Tanouye, a 1938 graduate of Torrance High School.
Tanouye received the Medal of Honor after he was wounded in July 1944. He was then killed in late September 1944 by an enemy mine, Yahata said.
The high school alumni association was going to unveil a monument to Tanouye and its president asked Yahata to make a 10-minute film they could show to students, Yahata said.
“The 10-minute short ended up as a one-hour documentary,” Yahata said, adding that it took most of 2004 to complete as they worked on the project part time.
The filmmakers thought the story might have more appeal to a younger audience if young people told it, so they selected eight students to help with research, and filmed them along the way, Yahata said.
The footage of the students was intertwined with what the filmmakers had gotten from people who knew Tanouye, he said.
The students’ participation was part of the reason the documentary was accepted for national distribution by American Public Television, Funkhouser said.
“We felt ‘Citizen Tanouye’s’ multilayered story line, success at various festivals and timeliness for Asian-American Heritage Month made it an easy choice for national distribution,” he said. “It’s a well-produced documentary that, through the eyes of students, pays tribute to one of the heroes of ‘the greatest generation,’ a popular topic among public television viewers.”
Students of varying ethnic backgrounds — Iranian, Korean, Japanese and Caucasian — were selected to help on the project, Yahata said.
The two Korean students got a lesson in forgiveness through the interviewing process, Horsting said. There has long been tension between Koreans and Japanese following the invasion of Korea by the Japanese.
Filmmakers took the two Korean students to a Japanese monument in Little Tokyo and introduced them to a Korean former lieutenant who was assigned to lead the Japanese unit during the war, Horsting said.
“The students were shocked to see a Korean American sitting and talking to Japanese veterans,” Horsting said.
One of the students, Billy Kim, asked the former lieutenant how he felt about being assigned to a Japanese unit.
“He told Billy his superior officer asked if he wanted a transfer, but his reply was, ‘I’m American. We’re here to fight for America’ and he stayed,” Horsting said. “Billy realized at that point that it’s not about being Korean American or Japanese American, we’re all Americans.”
But Horsting’s main task was to locate veterans who had served with Tanouye in the 442nd Regimental Combat Team, which was made up of Japanese American soldiers.
“[Horsting’s] strong point is making the contacts,” Yahata said. “He found soldiers who had fought next to Ted during some of the battles, and tracked down a lady who hired him to work at the market right out of high school. She filled in several gaps we didn’t know about while he was growing up.”
Horsting’s participation in the project began in July 2001. He was a graphic designer creating packaging for Mattel toys.
“I got burned out,” he said. “It was a frustration. Things were done by committee. I needed something to get passionate about.”
He had no training in filmmaking, but had always wanted to make a documentary and loved history, particularly World War II, he said.
Growing up in Amsterdam he had heard about the European and the Asian theaters, and started doing research. It led him to the Go For Broke National Education Center and its oral history program, which documents stories of Japanese American World War II veterans.
They were looking for volunteers to do the interviewing and offered to teach participants skills in videotaping, sound recording and interviewing, Horsting said.
“I was going to get all the skills taught to me to do a film and the topic was of interest to me,” he said. “I was fortunate they had an orientation coming up the next month, August 2001. I’m still volunteering with them.”
Over the next six years he conducted more than 85 interviews and did the video taping, sound monitoring or transcribing for more than 75 other interviews, he said.
In 2001, he met Yahata who was creating a documentary called “Tradition of Honor” for the Go For Broke oral history program. Horsting volunteered with the project.
That project led to the collaboration on “Citizen Tanouye.”
“Working with the kids, it was heartwarming, how they connected to the history,” he said. “When you hear from people who lived it, history jumps off the page. It becomes real to you. It motivates and excites you. The kids were able to express themselves in ways that seemed very profound at times. And they really linked with the story they were discovering.”
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