Military Intelligence Service

The first Japanese Americans to serve in the military during World War II were linguists involved in the Military Intelligence Service Language School (MISLS). The MISLS was charged with training soldiers in the Japanese language for intelligence purposes. Japanese Americans served as both instructors and students at the school, which opened on November 1, 1941. The Language School began recruiting instructors and later students directly from concentration camps as early as July 1942. MISLS graduates were assigned in small teams to units fighting in the Pacific and to intelligence centers throughout the Allied command. They translated captured documents, interrogated prisoners of war, wrote propaganda, encouraged Japanese soldiers and civilians to surrender, and monitored radio broadcasts. After the war, they acted as interpreters at the war crime trials and for the occupation government in Japan.

World War II (231)
Military service (2806)
Military Intelligence Service (1145)

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1145 items

img Group of men lined up outside building (ddr-ajah-2-503)

Caption below photo: Morning break period

https://ddr.densho.org/ddr-ajah-2-503/

img Joe Iwataki standing in snow (ddr-ajah-2-471)

https://ddr.densho.org/ddr-ajah-2-471/

img Road with tents (ddr-ajah-2-650)

Caption below photo: Tent area

https://ddr.densho.org/ddr-ajah-2-650/

doc Directory of Veterans of MIS 1968 (ddr-ajah-2-22)

Contact information redacted

https://ddr.densho.org/ddr-ajah-2-22/

img View from audience of two men speaking (ddr-ajah-2-500)

Caption below photo: Col. Introduces the ambassador

https://ddr.densho.org/ddr-ajah-2-500/

img Man sitting on beach (ddr-ajah-2-665)

Caption below photo: Bernard Strain

https://ddr.densho.org/ddr-ajah-2-665/

img Man in uniform standing by car (ddr-ajah-2-758)

Caption: Tsutomu "Tsunch" Inouye, of Alameda, while at Fort Ord, near Monterey, CA., for basic training. June 1941. Supplemental scan of ddr-ajah-2-75 with additional notes

https://ddr.densho.org/ddr-ajah-2-758/

img Portrait of women in photo folder (ddr-ajah-2-817)

Inscription on folder: To Mrs. Tsuchiya and Mary / Always Taniyo Alice / 12/15/1943. Caption: Alice Taniyo Iwataki, of Alameda, CA., was born in 1913 and died in 2016. She married Masaru "Roy" Iwata. She is Joe Iwataki's sister. Photo: December 15, 1943 in st. Paul Minnesota.

https://ddr.densho.org/ddr-ajah-2-817/