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 (277)
Military service (4131)
Military Intelligence Service (1387)

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1387 items

img Man outside house talking with woman and child (ddr-ajah-2-629)

Caption below photo: Remo

https://ddr.densho.org/ddr-ajah-2-629/

img Lines of men in uniform standing in formation (ddr-ajah-2-760)

Caption: Joe Iwataki at Fort Ord, near Monterey, CA. July 1941. Joe is in the second row, second from the far right. He was a member of the 7th Division, 53rd Infantry Regiment, Company A., this phot is of Company A. Supplemental scan of ddr-ajah-2-50 with additional notes

https://ddr.densho.org/ddr-ajah-2-760/

img Man sitting on rock in swim trunks (ddr-ajah-2-638)

Caption below photo: Lt. Cowan

https://ddr.densho.org/ddr-ajah-2-638/

img Man in bathing suit (ddr-ajah-2-584)

Caption below photo: Tak Watanabe

https://ddr.densho.org/ddr-ajah-2-584/

img Three men standing by wall. Joe Iwataki on right (ddr-ajah-2-710)

Caption below photo: Frank Norimoto / Tak

https://ddr.densho.org/ddr-ajah-2-710/

img Yasuharu Koike giving a fellow soldier a haircut (ddr-ajah-2-852)

Caption below photo: Yasuharu Koike cuts the hair of a friend (not the Schlitz beer he has in his right hand) while serving somewhere in the steaming hot jungles of Burma during WWII. Koike was a member of the MIS, the Military Intelligence Service. Photo August 1944. Koike hailed from Alameda, CA.

https://ddr.densho.org/ddr-ajah-2-852/

img Three men (ddr-ajah-2-604)

Caption below photo: Benewitz / Strain / Finkeldey

https://ddr.densho.org/ddr-ajah-2-604/

img Football game in stadium with crowd in bleachers (ddr-ajah-2-511)

https://ddr.densho.org/ddr-ajah-2-511/

img Yasuharu Koike holding rifle with bayonet (ddr-ajah-2-870)

Caption below photo: Yasuharu Koike in Taipha Ga, Burma. Koike served in the MIS in the China-Burma-India campaign in 1944. He may be holding a Japanese rifle. He was from Alameda, CA.

https://ddr.densho.org/ddr-ajah-2-870/

img Portrait of Joe Iwataki (ddr-ajah-2-752)

Caption: Joe Iwataki of Alameda, CA. Woltz was a family owned photo p=business that was in business well before WWII. It still exists as of 2021 in Des Moines, Iowa.

https://ddr.densho.org/ddr-ajah-2-752/

img Group of men outside building (ddr-ajah-2-489)

Caption below photo: In front of Ad Bldg

https://ddr.densho.org/ddr-ajah-2-489/

img Man standing outside barracks (ddr-ajah-2-436)

Caption below photo: Frank Hachiya / KIA at Leyte, P.I.

https://ddr.densho.org/ddr-ajah-2-436/

img Buildings and entrance to Camp Savage (ddr-ajah-2-419)

Caption below photo: Main entrance

https://ddr.densho.org/ddr-ajah-2-419/

img Sunken ships in bay (ddr-ajah-2-669)

Caption below photo: Japanese Ships sunk in the bay

https://ddr.densho.org/ddr-ajah-2-669/

img Two men in cook's aprons outside building (ddr-ajah-2-789)

Caption: Cooks Fat Nakamura (left) and Wahoo Yasui pose while serving at Camp Savage, Minnesota, 1945. Supplemental scan of ddr-ajah-2-550 with additional notes

https://ddr.densho.org/ddr-ajah-2-789/

img Group of men by Red Cross canteen truck (ddr-ajah-2-475)

Caption below photo: St. Paul Red Cross Canteen feeds up after Wednesday hikes

https://ddr.densho.org/ddr-ajah-2-475/

img Road through palm trees (ddr-ajah-2-652)

Caption below photo: G.I. built road

https://ddr.densho.org/ddr-ajah-2-652/

img Yasuharu Koike sitting in a rattan chair (ddr-ajah-2-863)

Caption below photo: Yasuharu Koike, of Alameda, CA., relaxes at the barracks of the American Army Forces headquarters in New Delhi, India. A second AAF CBI headquarters was established there on June 25, 1942. Photo 1944

https://ddr.densho.org/ddr-ajah-2-863/

img Man sitting on boat (ddr-ajah-2-727)

Caption below photo: Tak

https://ddr.densho.org/ddr-ajah-2-727/

img Group photo at Camp Savage MIS Language school (ddr-ajah-2-850)

Caption below photo: MIS Military Intelligence Service language school Camp Savage, Minnesota, circa 1943

https://ddr.densho.org/ddr-ajah-2-850/

img View of sky with small place (ddr-ajah-2-590)

Caption below photo: Australian skies

https://ddr.densho.org/ddr-ajah-2-590/

img View of military parade from above (ddr-ajah-2-612)

https://ddr.densho.org/ddr-ajah-2-612/

img Man kneeling in grass with dog (ddr-ajah-2-573)

Caption below photo: Joe Ikuta

https://ddr.densho.org/ddr-ajah-2-573/

img Group of men standing on side of road (ddr-ajah-2-480)

Caption below photo: Barrack 15 at ease

https://ddr.densho.org/ddr-ajah-2-480/

img Joe Iwataki standing with rifle (ddr-ajah-2-756)

Caption: Posing with what looks like a M1 rifle is Joe Iwataki or Alameda, CA., at Fort Ord, near Monterey, CA. He was a member of the 7th Division, 53rd Infantry Regiment, Company A. March 1941. Supplemental scan of ddr-ajah-2-68 with additional notes

https://ddr.densho.org/ddr-ajah-2-756/