WORLD WAR II: MILITARY INTELLIGENCE SERVICE (MIS)

The significant role of Japanese Americans in the Military Intelligence Service (MIS) was held in secrecy until nearly 30 years after World War II. It was then that the remarkable accomplishments of the MIS were released to the public. Nisei (second generation Japanese Americans) and Kibei (Japanese Americans educated in Japan) were recruited from Hawaii and the American concentration camps. They were given extensive training in military Japanese and sent in small groups to serve with military commands in the Pacific. These military linguists served with distinction as translators, interpreters, and interrogators throughout the Pacific war theater and played a major role in the transition of Japan after the end of the war.