Ceremony to recognize WWII Nisei linguists

By William Cole
Advertiser Military Affairs Writer

"Ambassador in Arms," the story of the famed 100th Infantry Battalion, tells of two soldiers manning a machine gun emplacement on the North Shore following the Dec. 7, 1941, attack on Pearl Harbor.

Volunteer service honored Army Spc. Theodore Chandler of the 25th Infantry Division (Light) at Schofield Barracks was honored in Mayor Jeremy Harris' office Tuesday for outstanding community service. Chandler was presented with the award for his recent volunteer efforts with the Special Olympics and for his willingness to volunteer as a bone marrow donor. Courtesy U.S. Army

Finally, the Hawaiian asks the question that had been nagging him for days.

"Eh, if dey come, who you going shoot? Dem or me?"

"Who you t'ink, stupid," the Nisei responds. "Me j'us as good American as you!"

From May 1, 1942, to Sept. 2, 1945, Nisei linguists with the Military Intelligence Service proved they were just as good Americans, playing key roles on the battlefield and securing information that Maj. Gen. Charles A. Willoughby later said saved more than a million American lives and shortened the war by a good two years.

Like the celebrated 100th Infantry Battalion and 442nd Regimental Combat Team, thousands of Nisei linguists fought against Japan on the battlefield while simultaneously battling suspicion at home.

But with a classified mission and assignments to combat units on every front, Military Intelligence Service veterans were too scattered and too secret to garner the recognition received by the 100th and 442nd.

At a gathering on Aug. 11 at the Hawai'i Convention Center, the Military Intelligence Service Veterans of Hawai'i hopes to bring to light the role that last year earned the wartime combatants a Presidential Unit Citation.

Adm. Dennis C. Blair, commander in chief of U.S. Pacific Command, has been invited to speak at the recognition ceremony along with Hawai'i Sen. Daniel Akaka. Gov. Ben Cayetano is expected to make a proclamation.

James Tanabe, a board member with the veterans organization, said the event likely will be a "last hurrah" for many MIS veterans here.

"They are getting old," Tanabe said, adding the median age is past 80. Tanabe estimates that as many as 2,400 of 6,000 Nisei linguists have died.

The first Military Intelligence Service language school was started on Nov. 1, 1941 in an abandoned hangar at the Presidio in San Francisco. Each six-month class consisted of an intensive crash course in Japanese military language — skills put to use interrogating Japanese soldiers, intercepting transmissions and translating documents.

The Japanese Americans had to show their true colors at a time when their draft eligibility initially was downgraded to noneligible "enemy alien" status, and Japanese families were stripped of their civil rights and interned in West Coast camps.

Honolulu attorney Ted Tsukiyama joined the 442nd and was training at Fort Shelby, Miss., when 250 volunteers were pulled out and sent to the language school.

"From Pearl Harbor on, I was committed," Tsukiyama said. "They (the Japanese) were the enemy, and I had no compunction about fighting."

Akaka pursued legislation recognizing the accomplishments of the intelligence service veterans and making the presidential citation for "extraordinary heroism" possible. Tanabe said copies of the unit citation will be awarded at the Aug. 11 luncheon.

The 11 a.m. event is open to the public. The cost is $35. For more information, call Robert Honke at 373-4146.