On the eve of Pearl Harbor, in November of 1941, the U.S. Army created a unit called Military Intelligence Service (MIS) and started a language training program in Japanese as well as German. However, there were sufficient German speakers in the U.S. military so the need was not that great and German classes were small. It was different when it came to Japanese. The U.S. government knew that war with Japan was imminent, they just didn't know exactly when it was going to start. So preparations were being made. Contrary to the common perception that America was totally surprised and unprepared, Washington was aware that war with Japan was going to take place and had been preparing. The problem was that there was a great shortage of Japanese linguists in the U.S. military. For that matter, there just weren't that many Japanese speakers, period. The German-American population was much greater in America than Japanese-American. There were several states and cities that had dominant German population, but except for Hawaii, Japanese population was very sparse and pretty much scattered throughout the West Coast. So, in time, the MIS language training program became almost strictly Japanese and MIS was made up of Japanese speakers.
The MIS started a language school (MISLS) with a meager funding of $2000! The first classes were held in an empty warehouse in San Francisco and students had to sit on orange crates! The initial class consisted of 60 G.I.s, all but two were Nisei (second generation Japanese-Americans), and quite a few in the bunch were Kibei, Nisei who were sent back to Japan to be educated. So, all students spoke Japanese. What they were trying to teach them was the complicated military jargon and vocabulary, which none, not even those that were educated in Japan, were familiar with or could truly understand. The two none Japanese were, a son of missionaries who grew up in Japan and was fluent in the language, and another who was a Japan scholar and had a graduate degree in Japanese. All of them struggled with the complicated military vocabulary and usage and at the end of the 6 month program, 48 graduated out of 60.
By the time the first batch graduated, the war was on and additional linguists were desperately needed. However, there was a problem. The Japanese-Americans were all gathered up and interned in camps under the Executive Order 9066. Japanese-Americans were not trusted and, naturally, not accepted into the military service. Those who went through the first class had already been in the service prior to Pearl Harbor. Ultimately, volunteers were sought from internment camps and the language school began to operate full strength. The contribution made by the members of MIS was incalculable! They were the only ones in the U.S. military who could interpret, translate, eves-drop, and read important documents in Japanese. At the end of the war, there were about 6000 Japanese-Americans who were veterans of the MIS.
Besides working in office environments as linguists, the MIS members volunteered and served as combat interpreters/translators and radio monitors in the field! They were members of the U.S. Army, but served in all branches of the service. For instance, although the Marines had designated linguists in their combat units, those none Japanese-American Marines just did not have the fluency level and ability of the Nisei members of MIS. Anyone who has been through language training knows that 6 months training is hardly enough to make one fluent in a "hard" language such as Japanese. The military language programs were 6 months in length. Today, the State Department spends 2 years training its officers in Japanese. Even after that period, very few if any reach native fluency level. So, MIS members were assigned to the 1st Marine Division as well as others that saw combat in the Pacific. MIS members were also assigned to the OSS and served in such places as China and Burma. A number of the MIS Nisei soldiers served with OSS's famous Detachment 101 and the Kachin Rangers! Another contingent was assigned to the famous Merrill's Marauders in Burma.
There are some hair raising accounts of the exploits of MIS members with the Merrill's Marauders. The Japanese didn't trust wireless communication so they used telephone lines. The Nisei soldiers of MIS would volunteer to crawl up to the Japanese lines at night and tap into their telephone lines! The Japanese never did figure out why Merrill's Marauders always seemed to be a step ahead of them! General Frank Merrill, the CO of that unit later said that the Marauders could not have been as successful without the contribution of the Nisei soldier of the MIS. Yet, in all the press coverage and numerous books written about the Marauders, and even a popular movie made in the 1960s, there is hardly ever any mention of MIS and the Nisei soldiers.
Another elite unit that operated in the Pacific, the Alamo Scouts, often referred to (together with the OSS) as the grandfather of the modern day Army Special Forces, had Nisei MIS soldiers. The Alamo Scouts even had on its recon teams Marines and Navy personnel, although it was an Army unit and was predominantly staffed with army personnel. All branches of the service received credit for their outstanding work, yet, the contribution of MIS and the Nisei soldiers is hardly ever mentioned. Incidentally, the Alamo Scouts infiltrated behind Japanese lines and gathered intelligence and conducted prisoner snatches, the very same kind of work later done by SOG in Vietnam. They did not suffer a single death casualty during the entire war with over hundreds, perhaps thousands of operations! Quite a record and accomplishment!
It wasn't until 2010 that the accomplishments and service of the Nisei soldiers of MIS to our nation was recognized and some 6000 former members were awarded the Congressional Gold Medal. Not all were alive to receive the award, quite a few medals were presented to surviving relatives! A pity, because after the war the veterans of MIS continually lobbied to be recognized. They fought to receive the Combat Infantryman's Badge (CIB) and campaign ribbons. The CIB was awarded to all Merrill's Marauders, but not the MIS soldiers. The CIB was also awarded to all Alamo Scouts and OSS's Detachment 101 members, but once again, the MIS soldiers were left out. Some did finally receive the CIB after years of lobbying.
The story of the Nisei soldiers of MIS is a very little known and recognized story. Whenever Nisei soldiers of World War Two are mentioned, most immediately think of the 442nd RCT and the 100th Battalion that fought so gallantly and heroically in Europe. But one hardly ever hears about the Japanese-American soldiers of MIS in the Pacific! Part of the problem was/is the cumbersome, sometimes mind boggling bureaucracy that exists in the U.S. Army. But unfortunately, some of the blame has to be placed on just plain old racial discrimination, especially against those of Japanese ancestry during World War Two. Despite their outstanding record of performance, the 442nd was never deployed in the Pacific, that is because the army was afraid the Japanese-American soldiers would balk at fighting Japanese! The incredible heroics of the Nisei soldiers of MIS in the Pacific completely dispelled that theory!
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