senator akaka: yes. i learned that there was a person who did not receive the medal of honor because he did not carry a rifle and that disturbed me. i checked it out, and that was true. there were letters that were sent in by his commanders, praising him for his feats at that time as a paramedic. the things that he did were outstanding. their recommendations -- they recommended that he received a medal of honor and the reason that he did not, i was told, was that he did not carry a gun. well, i talked to the pentagon about that and they reconsidered that, and they felt that with the citation, he should have received that, and he was added to that list to receive a medal of honor. terry: all of the medal of honor recipients had their medals upgraded. in that case, wasn't he upgraded from silverstar? senator akaka: i think that is true. i do not recall where he was, but because he was recommended i felt that i should try to get him the medal of honor. terry: did you have any obstacles or resentments to you

-- former congressman daniel akaka. he talks about growing up in hawaii and witnessing the attack on pearl harbor, how that affected native hawaiian and let into serving in the army corps of engineers. he also discusses the g.i. bill and discussing american veterans. it is about one hour and 15 minutes. interviewer: what do you recall with your family about what the war in asia and the war in europe -- things that were going on there, and maybe the possibility that the u.s. might get involved? senator akaka: let me start, since i mentioned abraham, he was in amsterdam. he got caught when the were corrupted in europe, when germany invaded the country, it really became a topic for the family to talk about, about germany and what the germans were trying to do. of course, it was in europe. as far