[Congressional Record Volume 157, Number 168 (Friday, November 4, 2011)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E2012-E2013]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




 IN HONOR OF WARREN EJIMA, TOM FUJIMOTO, ASA HANAMOTO, MAS HASHIMOTO, 
   HIROSHI ITO, THOMAS SAKAMOTO, MARVIN IRATSU, AND WILLIAM H. OMOTO

                                 ______
                                 

                             HON. SAM FARR

                             of california

                    in the house of representatives

                        Friday, November 4, 2011

  Mr. FARR. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to recognize Warren Ejima, Tom 
Fujimoto, Asa Hanamoto, Mas Hashimoto, Hiroshi Ito, Thomas Sakamoto, 
Marvin Iratsu, and William H. Omoto for their courageous service to our 
Nation during World War II as part of the Military Intelligence Service 
(MIS).
  Established on November 1, 1941, MIS graduated 6,000 service members 
during World War II to provide critical Japanese language capabilities 
to the American military. These brave servicemen and women provided 
translation, interpretation and code breaking services in the essential 
Pacific Theater, which contributed significantly to our Nation's 
victory.
  Primarily comprised of Nisei, second-generation Japanese-Americans 
who faced crushing prejudice and discrimination in the United States at 
the same time many of their family members were serving their country, 
this exceptional group has received honors and commendations of the 
highest level. In 2000, the Military Intelligence Service received the 
Presidential Unit Citation, the highest possible honor for a military 
unit, and in 2010 the 6,000 graduates of the MIS were awarded the 
Congressional Gold Medal, the highest civilian award given in this 
country. The Gold Medal ceremony conferring this honor was held this 
week in the U.S. Capitol and was attended by many of these courageous 
men. At the end of the war, General Charles Willoughby, Chief of Staff 
for Military Intelligence under General MacArthur, said that ``The 
Nisei shortened the Pacific War by two years and saved possibly a 
million American lives and saved probably billions of dollars'' during 
the conflict.
  Initially run out of an airplane hangar on Crissy Field in San 
Francisco, the Military Intelligence Service was forced to relocate to 
Camp Savage in Minnesota in 1942 after President Roosevelt ordered the 
relocation of Japanese on the West Coast into internment camps. The 
language school continued to grow rapidly from its base at Camp Savage, 
and by 1944 had moved again, to Fort Snelling in St. Paul, to 
accommodate its increasing enrollment. After the war ended the MIS 
moved to the Presidio in Monterey, California, where it continued to 
provide essential language services to the Department of Defense.
  By the 1970s the Military Intelligence Service's name had been 
changed to the Defense Language Institute, and all of the Department of 
Defense language programs were consolidated to the Monterey location. 
From there the program grew into the Defense Language Institute Foreign 
Language Center, which celebrates its 70th anniversary on November 5, 
2011 with a ball in Monterey.
  Mr. Speaker, I am honored to be paying tribute to this outstanding 
group of Japanese Americans who selflessly served our Nation during 
World War II. I know I speak for the entire House of Representatives in 
honoring these heroes.

[[Page E2013]]



                          ____________________