Nisei Paratrooper. A mystery solved

[Eric Queen]

A friend picked this up several years ago and I was pleased to add it to the collection. I was never quite sure what the history was behind it until recently.

[David D]

Very nice portrait! So what's the story?

[Eric Queen]

Bob here was part of the MISLS (Military Intelligence Service Language School). The 11th Airborne had asked the MISLS for ten (10) Nisei linguists to be jump trained and take part in the invasions of Leyte and Luzon. The MISLS sent twenty five (25) volunteers to the jump school at Fort Benning, GA thinking half would wash out. In the end, 23 of the 25 passed the course and received their jump wings. Bob is one of those 23. Team leader Charles Tatsuda and ten (10) men were sent to the 11th Airborne and the others (under team leader Mitsuo Usui) were sent to the 10th Army HQ to take part in the invasion of Okinawa.

[doyler]

Great portrait and history of a little known unit.

[Eric Queen]

This is kind of exciting because I feel I am close to being finally able to identify Bob. Need your help. Which one is he?

[rmoore456]

This is kind of exciting because I feel I am close to being finally able to identify Bob. Need your help. Which one is he?

 

Back row far right.

 

Ray

 

[12A54]

Great image. Great research. Great story. Love these little known bits of US military history.

[Eric Queen]

Here is the image again with the names. The names that are underlined are the ones that were sent to the 11th Airborne

[Eric Queen]

So, based on this, we have 5 possibilities. R.Kimura, R.Suehiro, B.Mtsunaga, R.Yamauchi or R.Sodetani (not pictured)

[Eric Queen]

Then, using the enrollment records from the MISLS:

 

R. Kimura (there is a Rocky and a Robert)

 

R. Suehiro (the only R is Richard so this cannot be him)

 

B. Mitsunaga (the only B is Bert so this cannot be him)

 

R. Yamauchi (the only R is Richard so this cannot be him)

 

R. Sodetani (the only R is Ritsuji Roy so this cannot be him)

 

So, the only possibility is R. Kimura. Now I need to confirm that if Kimura was indeed Robert (and not Rocky). See article below.

[doyler]

_{Any chance there is a High shool year book or University book with his photos on line or in a library?}

[Eric Queen]

A quick check of Ancestry only shows University books from 1932 and 1948 or later.

 

If the names underneath the photo are correct, there can be only one possibility. There was only one Robert.

[Rakkasan187]

Eric,

 

Here is more information for you:

 

The Center of Military History published a book "Nisei Linguists:Japanese Americans in the Military Intelligence Service During World War II, by James C. McNaughton

 

There are some great photos in the book including some Nisei linguists with the Kiska Task Force..

 

Leigh

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Rakkasan187]

Here are a few more shots:

 

Leigh

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Rakkasan187]

One last shot, This is similar to the picture in post 3, in fact it is the exact same one..

 

Leigh

 

 

[Allan H.]

Eric,

 

THe more I look at the group, the more I tend to agree with Roy that he looks like the guy in the top right hand corner of the photo. One other thing for you to consider is that "Bob" might not be a Robert. It is very possible that the veteran had a Japanese first name like "Hideki" or "Akio." When I was visiting Japan on business, it seemed to me that the vast majority of Japanese businessmen had an American or at least Westernized first name. As I am sure you know, the "R" sound is indeed a foreign one for the Japanese, so the "R" names could be a bit problematic for Japanese speakers. I think that you need to expand your search and the names to not simply exclude those whose names don't show up as an "R" first initial.

 

Of course, it is also possible that the paratrooper who started this might have been Thai, Vietnamese, Korea, or even Chinese. With the number of Japanese who spent time occupying China and Korea in the 19th and early 20th centuries, there were plenty of opportunities for them to have fathered children throughout Asia, thus providing Japanese features to their progeny.

 

This is a super photo no matter what the outcome.

 

Allan

[Eric Queen]

Thanks Leigh. I have read excerpts from that book online and it is very informative.

 

Allan, thanks for your thoughts on this. A couple other things to consider:

 

* The man at the far right in the first row is Harold O. Hayashi. I doubt that Bob would be his nickname but I guess anything is possible.

 

* I know what you are saying but that applies usually to Japanese nationals who do not have "western" names (an example would be someone named Tomiaki would use the name "Tom" to make it easier for English speakers. In this case though, these are Americans and most all of them had "American" first names with a couple of exceptions.

 

* There is no doubt at all that the person in the original photograph is Japanese American. Along with the photo came other photos of him in the Japanese internment camp. (below)

 

Thanks again. I will go through all the names and see if there were any who did not have their own "American" name.

[Eric Queen]

2

[Eric Queen]

3

[manayunkman]

Very interesting topic.

 

I never knew about this.

[Eric Queen]

7 of the 23 did not have "American" names according to the MISLS

[lakenormanusa]

My guess would be B. Mitsunaga.

The eyes, nose and ears look similar, plus, he appears to be one of the younger guys.

The name Bert could be short for Robert/Bob.

 

 

 

 

 

[Collector .45]

Thats an awesome photo with a very neat history tied to it. Nice addition to the collection.

 

- Henry

[34BDQ]

Being Asian, and being from Hawaii gives me a advantage. I have taken the group picture with the red circles and the first picture side by side to compare and would put my money in the person kneeling bottom right. When comparing the lips, eyes and nose they match.

[Eric Queen]

Thanks for your input. Going strictly by the first names (if correct) Robert Kimura would be the only possibility but the facial verification (from this group photo) is certainly not a slam dunk. I guess it would be possible for any of the seven without legal "American" names to have the nickname "Bob". If you are thinking man kneeling at bottom right, that would (should) be Kazuo Yoshida who is also in the photo Leigh posted.

 

Do you think the man on the left below is our man?

 

Thanks