Incredible Nisei "Short Snorter"

[siege1863]

 

EDWIN SASAKI

MISLS Section 8 (Graduated Savage--Dec. 1942)

HQs Co MISLS

China-Burma-India

Japanese Language Instructor

 

RYO ARAI

MISLS Section 18 (Graduated Savage--Dec. 1942)

South East Asia Translation & Interrogation Center (SEATIC)

China-Burma-India

 

TOMOCHI TSURUDA

MISLS Section 16 (Graduated Savage--Dec. 1942)

South East Asia Translation & Interrogation Center (SEATIC)

Mars Task Force--124th Cavalry (Translation Facility)

China-Burma-India

* Relocation Camp Gila River AZ

 

KIYOSHI SUZUKAWA

MISLS Section 6 (Graduated Savage--July 1943)

South East Asia Translation & Interrogation Center (SEATIC)

China-Burma-India

* Translator during Korean War

 

SADAO TOYAMA

MISLS Section 7 (Graduated Savage--December 1942)

South East Asia Translation & Interrogation Center (SEATIC)

Mars Task Force--475th Cavalry (Translation Facility)

China-Burma-India

* Recruited from 100th Battalion

 

HIROO FUKUYAMA

MISLS Section 18 (Graduated Savage--Dec. 1942)

South East Asia Translation & Interrogation Center (SEATIC)

China-Burma-India

 

MASAYOSHI "ROY" MIZUTANI

MISLS Section 7 (Graduated Savage--Dec. 1942)

China-Burma-India

* Relocation Camp Abraham UT

 

TOMOYUKI YAMADA

MISLS Section 5 (Graduated Savage--July 1943)

China-Burma-India

 

MASAJI INOSHITA

MISLS Section 13 (Graduated Savage--Dec. 1942)

South East Asia Translation & Interrogation Center (SEATIC)

Combined Services Detailed Interrogation Command (CSDIC)

OSS (?)

China-Burma-India

* Relocation Camp Gila River AZ

 

HIROSHI KAWAMOTO

MISLS Section 8 (Graduated Savage--Dec. 1942)

China-Burma-India

 

TAKEHIRO ARAKI

MISLS Section ? (Graduated Savage--July 1943)

China-Burma-India

 

GEORGE ITSUO NAKAMURA

MISLS Section 10 (Graduated Savage--December 1942)

South East Asia Translation & Interrogation Center (SEATIC)

"Dixie Mission"

China-Burma-India

* Relocation Camp Gila River AZ

** See Dixie Mission and George Itsuo Nakamura at Wikipedia

 

George Nakamura in China

 

TOM NAMIO MORIGUCHI

MISLS Section 17 (Graduated Savage--December 1942)

South East Asia Translation & Interrogation Center (SEATIC)

China-Burma-India

* Relocation Camp Gila River AZ

 

 

 

Military Intelligence Service Language School (MISLS)

As the U.S. drew closer to war in 1941, a few military officers—notably Lt. Col. John Weckerling and Capt. Kai Rasmussen—realized that there would be a need for Japanese translators in the Pacific. Unfortunately, the military could only find a few soldiers already proficient in Japanese, so Weckerling and Rasmussen began to push for the creation of a language school to intensively train people to be military linguists. This naturally led them to the idea of recruiting Nisei—those of Japanese ancestry but born in the U.S.—who might have some experience with the language already; however, many officers did not believe that the Nisei were American enough and so should not be trusted.

 

Despite that pressure, Weckerling and Rasmussen put their jobs on the line and got the 4th Army Intelligence School opened in San Francisco on November 1, 1941, where John Aiso, Shigeya Kihara, Akira Oshida, and Tetsuo Imagawa taught fifty-eight Nisei and two Caucasians. A few months later President Franklin D. Roosevelt issued Executive Order 9066 that forced the internment or relocation of Japanese families. Because the school was housing Nisei, it had to move or lose nearly all of its students. After a number of other mid-western states declined, Governor Harold Stassen of Minnesota agreed to take in the school, so it moved to Camp Savage and changed its name to the Military Intelligence Service Language School (MISLS). Within a couple of years, the school outgrew itself and moved again, this time to Fort Snelling in St. Paul. Eventually MISLS graduated more than 6,000 linguists. Its graduates broke codes, served on the front lines, and even became instructors themselves. Their service in the Pacific theater of World War II was so successful that it prompted Major General Charles Willoughby—General Douglas MacArthur's Chief of Staff for Military Intelligence—to say, "The Nisei shortened the Pacific War by two years and saved possibly a million American lives and saved probably billions of dollars."

 

MIS linguists translated Japanese documents known as the "Z Plan", which contained Japan's counterattack strategy in the Central Pacific. This information led to Allied victories at the Battle of the Philippine Sea, in which the Japanese lost most of their aircraft carrier planes, and the Battle of Leyte Gulf. An MIS radio operator intercepted a message describing Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto's flight plans, which led to P-38 Lightning fighter planes shooting down his plane over the Solomon Islands.

 

 

Mars Task Force

The 5332nd Brigade (Provisional), otherwise known as the Mars Task Force, replaced Merrill’s Marauders in August 1944. The Mars Task Force was comprised of two regiments -- the 475th Infantry and the 124th Cavalry – with 12 MIS linguists were attached to each regiment. The mission of the Mars Task Force, similar to that of the Merrill’s Marauders, was to operate around and behind enemy lines, cut off supplies and reinforcements, and clear the Burma Road.

The MIS soldiers served both as interpreters and riflemen, however one of its most important tasks was to eavesdrop on Japanese soldiers. Linguists were responsible for obtaining information from Japanese soldiers who conversed loudly around the defense perimeter. They gathered intelligence on ammunition dumps, enemy positions and movements. The Mars Task Force served in the CBI theater until February of 1945.

MIS who participated in the Mars Task Force included:

 

*Sadao Toyama

*Tom Tsuruda

 

 

China--"Dixie Mission"

MIS linguists served in Chungking, China under Chiang Kai-Shek in July 1944. Five MIS Nisei participated in an American mission to Yenan, which operated as Mao Tse Tung’s headquarters. The servicemen nicknamed this mission the “Dixie Mission” because it was in “rebel” territory.

The MIS interrogated Japanese POWs to extract intelligence information on the Japanese units as well as wrote propaganda leaflets distributed among the prisoners and intercepted communications. The MIS worked diligently day and night to gather vital information.

MIS soldiers who served in China included:

 

*George I. Nakamura

[Jack's Son]

I'm Impressed !!

You have done a great job researching this person.

Not only him, but all who signed his snorter. WOW.

 

I don't know how else to complement you. :bravo:

 

Respectfully,

JS

[siege1863]

Here is some additional info on Masaji Inoshita. Posted below is a war-time photo and as he appeared in 2008. Also on the Internet is a brief interview video.

 

 

 

Mas Inoshita was born in Fresno, California on December 9th, 1919 to Maruji and Sen Inoshita. He left college to work in 1939 after his father had a stroke and could no longer run the 55-acre family farm in Santa Maria, California. In August of 1942, the family was relocated to the Gila River Detainment Center in Sacaton, Arizona, on the Gila Indian Reservation, where they would remain until 1946.

 

After the war, the family decided to stay in Arizona. Mas enlisted in the US Army. He attended Army Intelligence School and went through basic training with Company S of the 442 Infantry Regiment in the fall of 1943. He was selected to work with British Intelligence in India, Burma, China, and Japan, and in October, 1946, was sent to assess the damage at Hiroshima after the atomic bomb was dropped.

 

[capa]

thank you for posting this!

[bobgee]

Outstanding historical relic! Great research & story of these American heroes! Thank you for sharing!

Bobgee

[siege1863]

Just ran across this fact...

 

On April 3, 2000, Secretary of the Army , Louis Caldera, awarded the PRESIDENTIAL UNIT CITATION to the MILITARY INTELLIGENCE SERVICE for

 

"EXTRAORDINARY HEROISM IN MILITARY OPERATIONS AGAINST AN ARMED ENEMY , 1 May 1942 to 2 September 1945. "

 

 

 

Also, forgot to mention that this "short snorter" was acquired from a seller in Australia!

[teufelhunde.ret]

Truly great research! Guess we will never know how it turned up down-under? What or did anything clue you in the fantastic historical nature of the bill?

[siege1863]

I have hopes of contacting Mr. Inoshita, whose address and phone number I have. Perhaps he will recall the occasion the note was signed and who carried it.

 

When I first saw the auction listing, I immediately locked on to the fact the names were Japanese but written in English. A quick hop over to the NARA enlistment database confirmed these men were 1942 enlistees from Hawaii, California, and states with relocation camps. Without wasting any additional time, I took advantage of the "buy it now" option.

 

Most of the names I could read and research while waiting for the note to arrive. However, it was not until after I had it in hand that I realized I misread one name. Another was too faint to read as it appeared in the auction photo. For anyone researching the Japanese-Americans, there is a great database, which was the source for most of my information, called the Japanese-American Military Experience. There is also a database at NARA for Japanese-Americans relocated during the war.

 

Thanks to all for the nice comments.

[Jim Baker]

Very impressive. It's always a pleasure to see truly one of a kind artifacts.

 

How long did it take you to research this piece?

 

Again, very impressive and thanks for sharing.

[siege1863]

How long did it take you to research this piece?

 

I would estimate about 15 to 20 hours of research time. The databases mentioned earlier were very informative. Once I had complete names with correct spellings, I then made use of Ancestry.com, the WWII Memorial Registry, Google, etc. to "flesh out."

[Jim Baker]

I would estimate about 15 to 20 hours of research time. The databases mentioned earlier were very informative. Once I had complete names with correct spellings, I then made use of Ancestry.com, the WWII Memorial Registry, Google, etc. to "flesh out."

 

Very nice. I'm going to have to subscribe to Ancestry this winter.

[KASTAUFFER]

This is one of the most outstanding Short Snorters I have ever seen. The research is what really adds to this piece.

 

Here is a thread about Short Snorters:

 

http://www.usmilitariaforum.com/forums/ind...showtopic=13816

[siege1863]

This is one of the most outstanding Short Snorters I have ever seen. The research is what really adds to this piece.

 

When I determined what it was, I knew I had a goodie! I can't help but wonder what additional names might have been on the other detached banknotes. The seller did have another rupee note that no doubt was part of this one, but it had no signatures. Because I expressed interest in others he might have had, he jacked up the asking price on the second piece. This made it easy to pass on.

 

As an historical (or is that hysterical?) researcher by profession, I love these "short snorters." For me, it is like buying a lottery ticket. With luck, the research could lead to a big pay-off. This would be one of them.

[billl]

This is a great piece, with a wonderful history behind it. Thanks for sharing.

 

In Sept, 2015 I wrote an article called "Foreign Language Skills & Cultural Awareness in the U.S. Military"

for World at War Magazine.

 

The article can be found here, under the "history" category.

 

http://wgleslie.com/writing/

 

[siege1863]

Now up for sale! See listing in the B/S/T section.

[644td]

Great historical piece.

 

Marty

[11ACR-Scout]

Great piece, sir. Thanks for all your work on this. My father-in-law was in MIS. Volunteered out of relocation camp (Minidoka). He worked for Mcarthur in Tokyo after the war, which is where he met my wifes mom. Theres a great story about the forming of the 442nd Go for broke battalion, and how the buddhaheads (Hawaiian nisei) got over their hostility to the Ka-tonks (mainland nisei).

[Bluehawk]

Truly outstanding...