[Congressional Record Volume 150, Number 134 (Friday, November 19, 2004)]
[Senate]
[Pages S11617-S11619]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                THE NISEI INTELLIGENCE WAR AGAINST JAPAN

  Mr. AKAKA. Mr. President, the World War II war against Japan has been 
described in John Dower's book ``War Without Mercy'' as the most 
savage, bitterly fought racial war in history. Caught in between this 
epic struggle as innocent victims were the Nisei, American citizens of 
Japanese ancestry, who were neither accepted nor trusted by both 
America and Japan. The widespread question and doubt as to their 
loyalty to America extended to grave uncertainty of whether the Nisei 
would be willing to fight against an enemy of their same ancestry. This 
calls for the telling of the little-known story that there were over 
6,000 Nisei who more than willingly and resolutely fought against the 
Japanese enemy during World War II as military intelligence linguists 
serving in the American and Allied forces. Briefly, this is that story.
  As the probability of war against Japan mounted in the summer of 
1941, the U.S. War Department realized its deficiencies in the 
intelligence operations against Japan. The Military Intelligence 
Service Language School, MISLS, was hastily authorized and created to 
train linguists skilled in interpretation, translation and 
interrogation in the Japanese language, established at the Fourth Army 
Intelligence School located at Crissey Field, Presidio of San 
Francisco. With a meager budget of $2,000 and an initial enrollment of 
60 students, the first classes commenced their studies of military 
Japanese on November 1, 1941, a scant 5 weeks before the Pearl Harbor 
attack by Japan. After a grueling 6 months of training, only 45 of the 
initial enrollment of 60 students survived to graduate in May 1942, 35 
of whom were immediately assigned and deployed out to the Alaskan and 
Guadalcanal campaigns.
  From the outset the Army recognized that the American Nisei possessed 
the best qualifications, competence and potential for Japanese 
intelligence specialist training, yet harbored grave doubts about the 
Nisei's loyalty to America. Soon news came back from the field of vast 
sources of new Japanese intelligence uncovered by a pioneer linguist 
team lead by Captain John Burden of Hawaii in the battle of 
Guadalcanal, and field commanders began flooding the MISLS with demands 
for more Nisei linguists. The need to meet this surging demand for 
Japanese language linguists led the MISLS in December 1942 to recruit 
58 Nisei from the 100th Battalion then training at Camp McCoy, 
Wisconsin, to secure the transfer of 250 Nisei from the 442nd 
Regimental Combat Team, RCT, at Camp Shelby, Mississippi, to scour the 
10 relocation camps to recruit MIS students from behind their barbed 
wire enclosures, and to conduct two recruiting trips to Hawaii in June 
1943 and February 1944 to enlist over 500 Hawaii Nisei for intelligence 
training at MISLS.
  With the forced evacuation of 110,000 Japanese from the West Coast 
under Executive Order 9066 in the spring of 1942, the MISLS was 
transferred to Camp Savage, Minnesota where it continued to recruit, 
train and graduate successive classes of Japanese linguist specialists 
at roughly six month intervals totaling some 1,600 graduates. The ever-
increasing enrollment overtaxed the facilities at Camp Savage forcing 
the MISLS to move to larger facilities at nearby Fort Snelling in the 
spring of 1944. Here, classes training WAC students, oral language 
training and occupation civil affairs administration were added to the 
curriculum. By V-J Day in August 1945, 10 classes had been trained and 
graduated from MISLS at Camp Savage and Fort Snelling and another 3,000 
students were enrolled and learning Japanese at the Snelling facilities 
at that time. In all, during its history MISLS trained and graduated 
6,000 students for combat and occupational duty against Japan in World

[[Page S11618]]

War II. In June 1946, MISLS was then moved to the Presidio at Monterey, 
California and was renamed the Defense Language Institute where it 
teaches over 25 languages in the military intelligence field.
  MISLS graduates served in every combat theater and engaged in every 
major battle fought against Japan during World War II. Nisei linguists 
were assigned to and served with the United States Army, Navy, Marine 
Corps and Air Force, as well as with British, Australian, New Zealand, 
Canadian, Chinese, and Indian combat units fighting on all fronts 
against the Japanese. Trained for duties as interrogators, interpreters 
and translators, cave flushers, radio interceptors, radio announcers 
and propaganda writers, the MIS graduates served as ``the intelligence 
eyes and ears'' of American and Allied Forces in the war against Japan. 
The Nisei linguists were sent out to serve in every battle front where 
war was being waged against the Japanese enemy.
  South Pacific Command: Commencing in May 1942 Nisei linguist teams 
were sent out from Admiral Halsey's command headquarters in New 
Caledonia to participate in the battle for Guadalcanal where Japan 
suffered its first defeat, in the invasion of New Georgia and 
Bougainville and in the encirclement and cut off of Rabaul, New Britain 
to neutralize Japan's main Pacific stronghold. In April 1943, linguist 
Harold Fudenna intercepted and translated a Japanese radio message 
which outlined the schedule of Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto's inspection 
trip to Bougainville. American P-38 fighters flown out of Guadalcanal 
intercepted and shot down Yamamoto's plane over Bougainville. General 
McArthur described this incident as ``one of the singularly most 
significant actions of the Pacific War.''
  Southwest Pacific Command: In July 1942 General McArthur established 
the Allied Translator and Interpreter Section, ATIS, of his 
Intelligence Division in Melbourne, Australia to become the largest 
military intelligence center to wage the tactical war against Japan. 
Throughout its history over 3,000 Nisei linguists served with ATIS, 
translating over 350,000 captured Japanese documents and interrogating 
more than 10,000 Japanese POWs. Nisei language teams were assigned to 
and participated in the two-year campaign of jungle warfare along the 
east and northern coast of New Guinea and Borneo, invading and 
defeating Japanese defenses along the way. The Nisei were part of the 
invasion of the Philippines in October 1944 where General McArthur made 
his triumphal ``I have returned'' landing at Leyte. In March 1944, the 
``Z'' Plan containing Japan's total defense strategy for the Western 
Pacific fell into American hands following the fatal crash of Admiral 
Koga in the Philippines. The document was rushed to ATIS in Australia 
where two Nisei, Yoshikazu Yamada and George ``Sankey'' Yamashiro, 
translated the ``Z'' Plan, and copies were distributed to every command 
in the U.S. Navy.
  When the invasion of the Marianas Islands began in June 1944, the 
counterattacking Japanese aircraft were virtually wiped out by U.S. 
Navy carrier planes in ``The Great Marianas Turkey Shoot'' by virtue of 
the prior knowledge of Japanese strategy contained in the ``Z'' Plan.
  Southeast Asia Command. (CBI Theater): Nisei linguists joined 
British, Indian, Chinese and U.S. forces in the China-Burma-India 
Theater to drive Japanese invaders out of Burma and to reestablish the 
Burma Road supply lines to China. They were part of the two ground 
forces in Burma, the Merrill's Marauders and Mars Task Force, performed 
guerrilla tactics behind the enemy lines with the OSS Detachment 101, 
provided radio intercept work for the 10th Army Air force, manned the 
Southeast Asia Translator & Interrogation Center, SEATIC, in New Delhi, 
India, made propaganda broadcasts for the Office of War Information, 
and were leased out to the British forces fighting in southern Burma. 
In China, Nisei MIS performed intelligence services for the ``Dixie 
Mission'' to Communist China Headquarters at Yenan and OSS Detachment 
202 in Kunming, and fought with Chiang Kai Shek's Forces against the 
Japanese in southwestern China.

  Central Pacific Command: Admiral Nimitz organized the ``Joint 
Intelligence Center Pacific Ocean Area (JICPOA) operating out of Pearl 
Harbor, staffed by hundreds of Nisei translator/interrogators who were 
assigned out to serve with the U.S. Army, Navy, Marine and Air Force 
units waging the Pacific War against Japan. Nisei participated in the 
amphibious landings and land battles of the Marine Corps to capture 
Tarawa, Makin, Kwajalein and Eniwetok and were part of Marine and Army 
attacking units invading and capturing Saipan, Iwo Jima and Okinawa. 
Nisei radio interceptors flew as crews on U.S. Air Force bombing 
missions over the Japanese mainland. With their language skills they 
called into caves at Saipan, Iwo Jima and Okinawa to persuade hundreds 
of Japanese soldiers and civilian natives to surrender and save their 
lives without needless mortality. T/Sgt Hoichi Kubo assigned to the 
U.S. 27th Division entered a cliffside cave alone at Saipan to face 9 
armed Japanese soldiers to successfully persuade them not only to 
release the 120 civilians held captive there but for the soldiers 
themselves to surrender. Kubo was awarded the Distinguished Service 
Cross, the highest decoration received by any Nisei in the Pacific War. 
Nisei linguists attached to the front line of American invading forces 
not only assumed the normal hazards of combat but also faced the 
additional danger of being mistaken for an enemy Jap and shot at by 
their own troops, so they were assigned personal bodyguards at their 
sides at all times!
  Japan's Surrender and Occupation: With the atomic bombing of 
Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Japan accepted the terms of the Potsdam 
Declaration and surrendered on August 15, 1945. OSS Nisei like Fumio 
Kido, Dick Hamada and Ralph Yempuku parachuted down into Japanese POW 
prison camps at Hankow, Mukden, Peiping and Hainan as interpreters on 
mercy missions to liberate American and Allied prisoners.
  Over 5,000 Nisei served as the vital link between General MacArthur's 
Occupational headquarters and the Japanese people during the seven year 
occupation of Japan, contributing to the promotion of peaceful and 
harmonious relationships between occupation forces and Japanese 
citizens. Nisei were part of military government offices established 
all over Japan to ensure proper implementation of occupational 
policies, interpreting the directives and verifying that local 
governments carried them out. Nisei buttressed U.S. Army Counter 
Intelligence Corps efforts to detect and prevent subversive activities 
against Occupation Forces, screened hundreds of thousands of Japanese 
soldiers repatriating back to Japan against communist influences, 
helped design the Land Reform Law, and provided vital translator/
interpreter services at the War Crimes Trials against Japanese war 
criminals. Nisei participated in every major assignment covering 
military government, disarmament, civil affairs and intelligence and 
helped to frame the new Japanese Constitution which pledged that Japan 
would ``forever renounce war as a sovereign right of the nation.'' A 
personal assessment of the Nisei's role in the occupation is stated by 
Harry Fukuhara, a combat veteran of the Southwest Pacific campaign and 
himself a member of the occupation forces, thusly: ``The role of the 
Military Intelligence Personnel during the Occupation of Japan also was 
very important in assisting the rapid recovery that helped Japan to be 
accepted back into the family of nations. Nisei soldiers, with their 
language fluency and knowledge of Japanese culture and customs, bridged 
the gap between U.S. forces and the Japanese government. This was one 
of the key elements contributing to the recovery of war-torn Japan, its 
people and economy. Nisei efforts also laid the groundwork for the 
bilateral relationships that exists today between the United States and 
Japan.''
  Summary: Such in brief is the story of the Nisei MIS linguist, 
America's little known ``secret weapon'' against Japan during World War 
II. Their story is little known because their identity and their work 
was conducted under the strictest security and secrecy and their vital 
role in waging the successful intelligence war against Japan remained 
classified for until over 30 years after the War. Their role was 
considered indispensable because they possessed and employed the most 
effective weapon knowledge to be able to

[[Page S11619]]

comprehend and pierce the enemy's complex, difficult language and their 
services contributed tremendously to the Allied victory. General 
MacArthur stated that ``Never in military history did any army know so 
much about the enemy prior to actual engagement.'' On April 1, 2000, 
the President of the United States bestowed upon the Nisei MIS the 
Presidential Unit Citation, the highest honor that can be awarded to 
any military unit. The major part of the citations reads:

       The key contributions made by the members of the Military 
     Intelligence Service in providing valuable intelligence on 
     military targets helped advance the United States and Allied 
     cause during World War II and undoubtedly saved countless 
     lives and hastened the end of the war. The significant 
     achievements accomplished by the faithful and dedicated 
     service of the linguistic-intelligence specialist graduates 
     of the Military Intelligence Service will never be forgotten 
     by our grateful nation. Their unconquerable sprit and gallant 
     deeds under fire in the face of superior odds, and their 
     self-sacrificing devotion to duty are worthy of the highest 
     emulation.

  The Nisei served with distinction and honor; not a single case of 
subversion or disloyalty was ever charged against them. Little is known 
that nineteen Nisei gave up their lives in the line of duty in the 
Pacific War. They convincingly proved that Japanese Americans were more 
than willing and able to fight against an enemy of their own race, and 
validated the truism ``Americanism is not, and never was, a matter of 
race or ancestry. Americanism is a matter of the mind and heart.''

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