This is an I-Heart podcast.

And we continue with our American stories.

Major General James Mukayama rose from his blue-collar Chicago neighborhood to become the first Asian American to command a U.S. Army Division. General Muk, as he's known, is the author of Faith, Family, and Flag, memoirs of an unlikely American samurai crusader. Here he is to tell the story of the Japanese who fought

for the United States in World War II. I have a daily standard mantra, which is every day is a

great day. I have my faith, my family, and live in the finest country in the world.

I say that every day, every chance I get, but although I'm extremely positive and grateful,

having been born in the United States, I tell people, when I was born here, I hit the lotto. So when I say that mantra,

sometimes I get pushback about the finest country in the world part. And I say, listen,

I've been around the block a few times. You know, it does help to be around about eight decades.

And so I tell them, you know, when I joined the military,

there had never been an Asian American admiral or general in our armed forces.

Now, I was not the first.

I was about the third or fourth.

The club isn't real large. Now, halves our not the first. I was about the third or fourth. The club isn't real large.

Now, halves our country made mistakes? Obviously.

But I'll tell you what, number one, we're the only country that I know of that had a civil war to abolish slavery, costing over half a million lives to settle that situation.

And our president, who ran on that platform, was assassinated. He gave up his life, Abraham Lincoln,

knowing full well the risk he was taking. The military is a perfect example.

President Truman in 1948 integrated our military services.

Prior to that, we had segregated units.

The black units and World War II, we had the Japanese-American unit,

which I might add was the 100th Battalion 442nd Regimental Combat Team, which fought in Europe. To this day, it's the most highly

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