They were values that he had bled for, ideas he had sacrificed for, rights he understood as only someone can who has had them threatened, had them taken away.
As the Executive Director of the Japanese American Veterans Association, he committed himself to preserving the stories of servicemembers who fought and bled overseas, even while many of their families were relocated to internment camps at home.
He was originally charged with murdering the father-of-three, who bled to death after being stabbed, but the Crown accepted a guilty plea to the lesser charge of culpable homicide.
He was sent home from hospital with some painkillers after X-rays revealed bruised ribs, but bled to death less than 24 hours later from a ruptured spleen.