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

vh Roy H. Matsumoto Interview Segment 52 (ddr-densho-1000-153-52)

Description of relationship between Kibei and Nisei at Camp Savage, Minnesota; thoughts on the level of Japanese language education at the language school

Although Mr. Matsumoto does not identify himself as a Kibei (American-born person of Japanese ancestry sent to Japan for formal education and socialization when young and later returned to the U.S.), some of …

https://ddr.densho.org/ddr-densho-1000-153-52/

vh Roy H. Matsumoto Interview Segment 54 (ddr-densho-1000-153-54)

Assigned to tutor junior officers in Japanese language while at Camp Shelby, Mississippi

https://ddr.densho.org/ddr-densho-1000-153-54/

vh Harvey Watanabe Interview Segment 12 (ddr-densho-1000-102-12)

Removal and evacuation of Japanese American servicemen

https://ddr.densho.org/ddr-densho-1000-102-12/

vh Harvey Watanabe Interview Segment 25 (ddr-densho-1000-102-25)

Visiting relatives in occupied Japan

https://ddr.densho.org/ddr-densho-1000-102-25/

vh Harvey Watanabe Interview Segment 23 (ddr-densho-1000-102-23)

Serving in Japan during the postwar occupation, managing a hotel in Tokyo

https://ddr.densho.org/ddr-densho-1000-102-23/

vh Harvey Watanabe Interview Segment 18 (ddr-densho-1000-102-18)

Serving in the Military Intelligence Service in MacArthur's headquarters

https://ddr.densho.org/ddr-densho-1000-102-18/

vh Harvey Watanabe Interview Segment 21 (ddr-densho-1000-102-21)

Negotiating with Japanese officers over details of the occupation

https://ddr.densho.org/ddr-densho-1000-102-21/

vh Harvey Watanabe Interview Segment 20 (ddr-densho-1000-102-20)

Being mistaken for an escaping Japanese soldier

https://ddr.densho.org/ddr-densho-1000-102-20/

vh Harvey Watanabe Interview Segment 19 (ddr-densho-1000-102-19)

Reviewing top secret documents for the U.S. while being tailed by the U.S. Counterintelligence Corps at the same time

https://ddr.densho.org/ddr-densho-1000-102-19/

vh Eddie Owada Interview Segment 21 (ddr-manz-1-37-21)

Selected for the Military Intelligence Service, wanting combat duty

https://ddr.densho.org/ddr-manz-1-37-21/

vh Shig Kaseguma Interview Segment 24 (ddr-manz-1-32-24)

Memories of serving in Japan during the U.S. occupation

https://ddr.densho.org/ddr-manz-1-32-24/

vh Kenji Tomita Interview Segment 12 (ddr-ajah-1-3-12)

Serving with the Military Intelligence Service in Japan

https://ddr.densho.org/ddr-ajah-1-3-12/

vh Richard Kosaki Interview Segment 15 (ddr-janm-13-1-15)

Volunteering as a language instructor in the Military Intelligence Service; an interesting story about a fellow soldier

This material is based upon work assisted by a grant from the Department of the Interior, National Park Service. Any opinions, finding, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this material are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily …

https://ddr.densho.org/ddr-janm-13-1-15/