Gordon Richiusa to Ed Hoffman:
I currently have this original (bracelet) on display at the Pacific Island Ethnic Art Museum in Long Beach, but I think there might be something else I should do with it. I started a non-profit and we can now manufacture exact replicas, with the help of the VETS program at Saddleback College. I don’t really want to give this artifact to either of the U.S. or Japanese governments, since I feel that the attack at Pearl Harbor involved two imperialistic countries fighting over land that did not belong to either one of them. On the other hand, it seems like something else should be done. I’m wondering if I should give this original back to the Japanese people somehow, or even the descendants of the pilot and crew who were killed in the plane crash where my father got the aluminum.
Ed Hoffman:
I don’t think you should give it to either of the governments.
Rabbi Abraham Cooper:
I think I know some people who might be able to help you find the descendants, if any, but it doesn’t seem right to just give it to the government. I’m sure you’ll do the right thing.
From this meeting, the Reconciliation Project was born at Heroes’ Hearts Inc.
With the help of the Park Service at the Arizona Memorial in Hawaii and King Kamehameha’s Royal Order, copper bracelets were to be given to descendants of lost Japanese by two Holocaust survivors (Eddy and Eveline Hoffman) at a special ceremony that was to include the United Nations.
The True Story of Holocaust Survivors Eddy and Eveline Hoffman is detailed in the book:
Ode To Life!: The Love Story; The true story of Holocaust Survivors Eddy and Eveline Hoffman
