World War II and Korean War veteran Grant Ichikawa has experienced the dramatic change in the lives of Asian Pacific Americans.

During the Asian Pacific American Heritage Month ceremony May 27, he related how Asian immigrants were denied citizenship until after World War II. But today Asian Pacific Americans hold top positions in the presidential cabinet, Congress and the military.

"So many great people have done so much to make this country great," Ichikawa said.

He told about how as a young man he and other Japanese-Americans were placed in internment camps after the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor.

"I saw my chance to prove my loyalty," he said. The military needed Japanese Americans to help understand the complex Japanese language.

Upon completing the linguists program, Ichikawa joined the Military Intelligence Service. The wartime service of Japanese-Americans helped lead to the closure of the internment camps; and the government has since taken corrective measures to apologize.

"Sixty years ago we were classified as enemy aliens and last year we were honored as patriots," Ichikawa said. He and other World War II Japanese-American veterans met with President Bush at the White House in May 2008 for Asian Pacific American Heritage Month.

Along with Ichikawa's story, the crowd in Bob Jones Auditorium also enjoyed a dance performance

by the Center for Kuchipudi Art, a traditional Philippine Bamboo Dance, a martial arts demonstration by Team Kirage and a Philippine Opera.

"These (cultural) programs are the key to telling the story of where we come from," Garrison commander Col. Bob Pastorelli said.