In the previous blog, I mentioned the fact that the Nisei G.I.s of MIS performed invaluable work for all branches of the US military. However, I failed to give any specific examples of the kind of work that they performed. So, as a post script to the previous blog, here are some of the examples of the great work done by these Nisei G.I.s.
There were several books written about the exploits of the famous Merrill's Marauders, some by authors who were not members of that unit, while other were written by former Marauders. In one such book, written by a former officer with the Marauders, he describes in detail how exceptional work was performed by Nisei G.I.s in combat. Early on during the campaign, the Marauders were able to gain invaluable intelligence because of the Nisei G.I.s initiative, exceptional bravery, and language skills.
The MIS soldiers main task, besides interrogating prisoners, was intercepting Japanese communication, listening-in on radio transmissions and actually sneaking-in close enough to the Japanese positions to overhear conversation. However, conversations proved not to be of military value and radio transmissions were always coded, requiring decoding which took time, and sometimes the keys to the codes were not available to the MIS troops in the field. Japanese prisoners were hard to come by, since they rarely surrendered! The MIS soldiers were frustrated that they could not come up with good intelligence. Finally, one of them suggested that he be allowed to sneak close enough to the Japanese lines to physically tap-in to the telephone lines.
Telephone communication was not coded, since it was considered secure. The only way to listen-in to telephone conversation was to actually tap the line, and incredibly, that is exactly what the Nisei soldiers did, splicing the Japanese telephone lines and running a line back to the American position! For the duration of the Marauders campaign in Burma, the Nisei G.I.s performed this task every time they moved to a new position. They never got caught and the Japanese never found out. After the war, one of the surviving Japanese officers of the Burma campaign said that the Japanese were befuddled. They could not figure out how the Marauders were able to stay one step ahead of them! The Nisei Marauders performed these highly risky and dangerous missions time and time again. They risked not only being shot by Japanese, but by their own troops who tended to be nervous and could easily mistake them for the enemy!
The Nisei soldiers performed these missions routinely. They were never asked to do this, for this was an extremely dangerous job. Yet they went ahead and did this without being asked or told by their superiors. Once again, unfortunately they were never recognized for this exceptional work by the army or the news media. General Frank Merrill, the commanding officer, however, did know and awarded medals to those soldiers who performed this dangerous mission. But then, General Merril was partial to his Nisei soldiers. Hollywood, on the other hand, portrayed this work in a movie with a Caucasian soldier doing the dangerous job. In fact, in the movie Merrill's Marauders, the Nisei soldiers were only shown in passing! Interestingly, the very same work was performed by the MIS soldiers who were assigned to the Alamo Scouts and the OSS! Obviously, they did not consult each other yet were able to determine independently that tapping into the telephone lines was the best source of gaining intelligence.
But the MIS soldiers performed other extremely valuable jobs other than heroics in combat! During the Pacific Island Campaign, it was the MIS soldiers who discovered that the vast majority of the Japanese prisoners that they were capturing were not from combat units. They were from "work battalions," i.e., ammunition bearers, etc. They were also mostly ethnic Okinawans, Koreans, and Taiwanese! Prior to employment of MIS linguists, the Marines were not able to determine, like the first POWs in Guadalcanal, that the prisoners were not ethnic Japanese! It just goes to show how difficult some languages can be and little subtleties in accent and word usage can escape the ears of a none native speaker. It is especially true of so-called "hard" languages like most Asian languages, Arabic, Russian, etc.
During the last battle of the war in the Pacific, the Battle of Okinawa, the MIS soldiers played a very different role. On Okinawa, the army wisely chose to use MIS soldiers of Okinawan descent. This was invaluable. In seeking out hide outs, caves in particular, the MIS soldiers would announce over loudspeakers for the people not to be afraid, to come out. They gave the address in Japanese as well as in native Okinawan dialect to calm the fears of the people. Many times in a specific area, an MIS soldier of Okinawan background was used who was originally from that area! This way he could directly appeal to old friends and relatives! Such was the case of one G.I. of Okinawan descent, Takejiro Higa.
Higa was dispatched to a town where he grew up! His family left Okinawa for Hawaii after he finished his 8th grade. In Hawaii he finished high school and even attended the University of Hawaii when the war broke out. He appealed to the people hiding in the cave to come out, that they would not be harmed, that he was originally from that village! Imagine his surprise when the people emerged from the cave and his former 8th grade teacher, Shunso Nakamura was among them! There were also a number of his former 8th grade classmates as well! Thousands of people were saved in such fashion. Sadly many others perished because they refused to come out, thinking that it was some sort of a trick, or were held against their will by Japanese soldiers. The US practice, in such cases when people refused to come out, was to throw grenades into the cave and then incinerate everything within with flame thrower.
Another little known contribution by MIS soldiers took place once the war was over and the US forces occupied Japan. All of the translating and interpreting was done by MIS members. The Nisei soldiers were involved in all the war crimes trials that were held not only in Japan but other parts of Asia as well. There were several MIS soldiers on McArthur's staff that played a very important role in post war Japan and its reconstruction. For example, the new Japanese constitution was drafted with the help of George Koshi, an MIS soldier who was also a lawyer. He not only helped the Japanese draft the constitution but wrote the English version!
The contributions made by the Nisei soldiers of MIS were immeasurable. They were the true unsung heroes of World War Two. Much has been made of other unusual contributors to the war effort. Movies have been made about G.I.s who "saved" precious art works from the Nazis and other unusual little known activities by "unknown" heroes. But there has never been a movie about MIS and the Nisei soldiers. In fact, many of their exploits were "stolen" and portrayed as having been done by others! A movie was even made about the Navajo Code Talkers, of course it is PC to extoll the activities of native Americans, not that they don't deserve it, but still, let's face it, it is PC. Here in Arizona, a historical landmark known as Squaw Peak was renamed to Piestewa Peak to honor the first Native American woman killed in combat, Lori Piestewa killed in Iraq. But, it was more of a PC move than anything else. Good PR for the Governor of Arizona!
The Nisei G.I.s of MIS made tremendous contribution to the final outcome of the war in the Pacific. They also made a tremendous contribution in changing the landscape in the US military, especially the army. Yes, it was the 442nd, the "Go for Broke" Regiment that established the bona fide of Japanese Americans as combat soldiers. After all, the 442nd is the most highly decorated combat unit in U.S. history! But it was those "unsung" heroes of the MIS that truly established "trust," yes, I said trust, and allowed future Japanese Americans to do well in the military. Without them, there would not have been an Eric Shinseki, who reached the highest rank in the army, nor would there be any future high ranking Japanese American soldiers. Today's successful Japanese Americans in the military owe much to the Nisei G.I.s of MIS of World War Two. In fact, all Asian Americans who are successful in their respective military careers, owe a large measure of thanks to those brave unsung heroes of MIS.
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