Japanese American Military Experience Database
Roy T. Takai
Joint Intelligence Collection Agency (JICA), G-2, CBI
Southeast Asia Translation and Interrogation Center (SEATIC)
PACMIRS, Camp Ritchie, MD
Washington Document Research Center, Washington, DC
ATIS Interrogation Center, Tokyo, Japan
525th MIS Group, Ft. Bragg, NC
Department of International Affairs, CEC School, Ft. Holabird, MD
Defense Language Institute, Presidio of Monterey, CA
441st CIC Detachment, Nagoya, Japan
500th MI Group, Yokohama, Japan
113th CIC Detachment, Region 2,Indianapolis, IN
500th MI Group, Yokohama, Japan
US Continental Army Command (USCONARC), Fort Monroe, VA
Other Countries: Burma, India, Japan,
See additional information for historical resume.
Roy T. Takai was born 10/3/1918 at Sacramento, CA the only child of Seigo Takai, a farmer from Hiroshima-ken and Kiyo Takai, nee Masuda, of Ibaraki-ken. Kiyo's family were Christians since the Tokugawa era. Kiyo attended Aoyama Gakuen in Tokyo. She died when Roy was 1-1/2 years old.
Until Roy was about 7 years old, when his father married Mutsu Kuwamoto, a widow with four children, Roy had lived with some five families including his uncle's, who lived on Vashon Island, Puget Sound, WA. By this time, Seigo Takai owned a furniture store in Sacramento.
Roy's first trip to Japan occurred in 1929, when his father led a troop of Boy Scouts from Sacramento on a tour of Japan. The Takai family remained in Japan for 6 months.
Roy attended local schools, City College of Sacramento and was living in Oakland when Japan bombed Pearl Harbor. Roy's commute to the Berkeley campus by street car Monday was miserable because of the racist remarks made against him, but no animosity was displayed by students on campus. Roy's father was picked up by the FBI and sent to the Department of Justice Detention Center at Bismark, ND; Lordsburg and Santa Fe, NM.
Roy's stepmother taught Japanese to Nisei in the eastern suburb of Sacramento and she was evacuated with them to the Pinedale Assembly Center near Fresno and finally to Camp 2, Poston Relocation Center, AZ. While incarcerated, Roy took a Japanese language test for MISLS in July 1942 and on November 19, 1942, he enlisted in the US Army when the recruiting team headed by Major Karl Gould, M/Sgt Joe Masuda and T/Sgt Jerry Shibata arrived. Others recruited were: Camp 1 - Minoru Hara, Yumiji Higashi and James Sasano; Camp 2 - Juichi 'Nick' Nishi and Tom Tsuyuki; Camp 3 - Patrick Nagano and Sam Rokutani.
One younger Nisei lady commented how stupid it was for Nisei, who were incarcerated by the US to volunteer for the US Army, especially to fight against the country of their parents. When Roy was about 11 years old he took Kendo. The Issei instructor always set aside time to talk to the students about how the various facets of Bushido (Way of the Samurai) would impact upon their daily lives. He said that eventually Japan and the US would clash, at which time it would become a traumatic experience for the Issei and Nisei. He admonished us that we should always remember that Nisei were American citizens who were educated in America and who would probably continue to live there. He said that we should fight for our country. Therefore it was no problem for Roy to voluntarily enlist for the US Army although he had been incarcerated at Poston. How ironic, here we who chose to bear arms for their country, while on the other hand, we have an Issei, who could not become a US citizen because of the discriminatory immigration laws, urging Nisei to bear arms for the US. Ironic further still, is that this Issei was a member of the Nippon Buttoku Kai, which was listed as a subversive organization on the US Attorney's List at the time.
At the time the Camp Savage Recruiting Team arrived in Poston, there was rioting in progress caused by the beating of JACL leader Saburo Kido by dissidents. Therefore, the recruiters had to be smuggled out of Poston during hours of darkness to prevent possible injury or harm to them. Roy was placed in Section 9, Class of December 1942, and upon completing the course in June 1943, he was one of 127 men sent from Camp Savage to Camp Shelby, MS, to take basic infantry training. This group was designated as Company 'S' and the officers and NCOs were from the 442nd RCT. The majority of the 127 men were T-5 and Company S was on guard duty the day in August 1943 when the 100th Infantry Battalion left Camp Shelby for Europe.
Upon Roy's return to Camp Savage in September 1943, he was assigned to the MIS Team led by Captain John D. McLaughlin and others were: NCO in Charge, T/Sgt Fusao Uchiyama (Hawaii), Shori Hiraide, Hideo Imai, Joe Inafuku, Henry Kuwabara, George P.Okada, Hiroshi Osako, Eiichi Sakauye, Toshi Taniguchi (the majority of men were T-4). On his pre-overseas leave, Roy went to Santa Fe, NM to see his father, who was incarcerated in the DOJ Detention Center. He received permission to see his father but was not permitted into the grounds and had to talk to him through the barbed wire fence.
In October 1943, the team went by rail to Miami Beach, FL; by air to Natal, Brazil; Ascension Island; Accra, Gold Coast of Africa; Khartoum, Egyptian Sudan; Aden and Karachi, India (now Pakistan); and by rail to New Delhi, India. T/Sgt Harry Andow's team was already there, and both teams were assigned to the Joint Intelligence Collection Agency (JICA), G-2, CBI. It was obvious, however, that they were not ready for us because we had to work at night in the JICA offices when nobody was there.
In January 1944, Hiroshi Osako and Takai were sent to Imphal in Assam Province to augment a small British intelligence unit because the British anticipated an all-out Japanese attack on Imphal (large supply base) and Dimapur (railhead into India) to begin on Japanese Army Day, March 10, 1944. True to predictions, the Japanese began their attack on March 10 and within a short time laid siege to Imphal cutting all lines of ground communications. Fortunately, the British were able to hold the airfield and the US and British maintained air supremacy. The siege lasted about four months and the course of the war in Burma would have been different had the Allies not been able to maintain air supremacy. The daily diet during the siege was limited to hard tack biscuit (cracker), slice of bully beef (corned beed) and a cup of hot tea. Takai lost 25 pounds in about 7 months. Osako and Takai interrogated the first Japanese POWs captured in this operation. He was a wounded, low ranking soldier with little or no knowledge of tactical information value. However, since he was the first POW, the Britich wanted him thoroughly debriefed. We interrogated many POWs from whom we obtained good solid information. There was only one POW who asked whether Takai was a Nisei. He said that he was Private Nakata, however, after interrogating him further, it was learned that he was 2nd Lt. Tanaka. He had merely reversed the Chinese characters of his surname. There was another POW who claimed to be Hayashi, Chojiro. Little did he know that Takai used to see Japanese movies and was familiar with names of actors.
When Osako and Takai returned to New Delhi after a two week R&R trip to Simla (summer capital of India), they were assigned to the Southeast Asia Translation and Interrogation Center (SEATIC) commanded by Col G.F. Blunda, US Army. This was an allied organization comprised of British, Indian, Australian, US, etc. personnel. All interrogators/translators, except JAs were officers. The top ranking Nisei was a M/Sgt. All linguist personnel not specifically assigned to a combat or designated unit such as the Merril Marauders, Mars Task Force, Army Air Force Radio Squadron Mobile Team, etc., were assigned to SEATIC. For example, teams headed by Major Corvell, Capt. McLaughlin, T/Sgt Harry Andow, T/Sgt Hunchy Murakami, T/Sgt Opu Sugihara, T/Sgt Tim Hirata, etc.
Roy's second combat tour in Burma took him to the 19th British Indian Division deployed outside of Mandalay where he joined Saburo Watanabe who was logistically supported by an OSS Team headed by Major Raiss. The Japanese forces were located within the walls of Fort Dufferin and the Allied Air Forces continuously bombed the walls so that the British Division could enter the fort. After days of bombardment, the 19th Division charged into the fort only to find the fort empty of Japanese Forces. Like the Alaskan campaign, the Japanese had sneaked out of the fort the night before the British raid. Watanabe and Takai accompanied the OSS Team southward with the British convoy toward Rangoon chasing the Japanese. However, most of the Japanese headed toward French Indo China and Thailand. When we arived at Rangoon, Watanabe and Takai could not join the US Forces and were transported by British troopship to Madras, India. From Madras, they were placed upon a British troop train and sent across India to New Delhi. Takai was hospitalized there with amoebic dysentery and malaria. He was given a direct commission as 2nd Lt.
At Red Fort in old Delhi, Takai interrogated a Major Iwaichi Fujiwara, who had headed a Japanese clandestine intelligence unit bearing his own surname, Fujiwara Kikan, through which he worked with Chandra Bose, a dissident Indian leader who led an organization of Indian dissidents to fight against the British. As the activities expanded, Fujiwara was replaced by Major General Iwakuro, who renamed the organization as Hikari Kikan and continued the work until war's end. In late 1946 or early 1947, Roy met Fujiwara-san near the NYK Building in Tokyo and learned that Fujiwara-san was working with the G-2 Historical Section writing the history of WW II from the Japanese perspective. Some years later, Fujiwara-san joined the Japan Ground Self Defense Force. Some years later, in the 1960's, Roy received an invitation to attend a review of Japan Ground Defense Force in Tokyo, at which General Iwaichi Fujiwara was the Reviewing Officer.
Most of the SEATIC personnel were sent to the Malay Peninsula to participate in the surrender and disarming of the Japanese Forces. Roy and 10 enlisted linguist personnel were sent to Kulang, about 80 miles north of Singpore for that purpose. Additionally, Kulang was the headquarters of the Malayan communists and the Allies had provided, many weapons to them. One of Takai's mission was to take inventory of the weapons in the hands of the communists, many of them teenagers. The surrender and disarming of the Japanese went smoothly. The Japanese were screened for possible war criminals.
Takai was one of four or five officers named by Col G.F. Blunda to be assigned to PACMIRS, Camp Ritchie, MD. Roy was later transferred to the Washington Document Research Center in Washington, DC and was offered a civilian job by Col. Blunda but declined and took an assignment in Tokyo, Japan (ATIS Interrogation Center). In early December 1946, Takai headed a team of one other officer and 10 enlisted linguist personnel to Maizuru, Japan, to process the first shipload of Japanese repatriates from Siberia. Takai was informed that this was the first team sent to Maizuru from GHQ Tokyo. Roy was sent to Maizuru again in Januray 1947 as a Translation Officer under the overall command of Lt. Gary Otoshi. He was again sent to Maizuru for a 90 day TDY in 1948.
Takai accompanied Maj. Gen. E. Svensson (then Col.) and Col. G. Disharoon (then Major) to Sugamo Prison to interview the following Japanese on why Japan had attacked Pearl Harbor: Prime Minister Hideki Tojo, Navy Minister Shimada, Chief of the Economic Planning Bureau Teiichiro Suzuki, and former C in C of the Pacific Fleet Admiral Takahashi. It was reiterated to them that we were only interested in the historical aspects of why the need to bomb Pearl Harbor. Their answers show that we were not able to convince them that our interests were historical and not war crimes related. For example: Tojo - Although I was the Prime Minister, I was not informed until the very last moment that the Navy was going to bomb Pearl Harbor. Shimada - Although I was the Navy Minister, I did not know exactly when our forces were going to strike Pearl Harbor. Suzuki (seen on TV sitting behind Tojo and patting him on the head) - Japan was not able to produce sufficient oil to sustain her military forces. No one would sell that much oil to us so we knew we had to take oil by force from East Dutch Indies. In such case, Britain would come to the aid of Holland and US to the aid of Britain. US had the Pacific fleet at Pearl Harbor and airfields on the Philippines. US could inflict considerable harm to Japan's quest for oil. Therefore , it was imperative to include the US. Admiral Takahashi - I recall joint US Japanese naval war games held many years ago with the Hawaiian islands as the target.
During the Korean War, Takai became peripherally involved in a clandestine intelligence operation in which a lighthouse in the Inchon Bay was lit just prior to the landing of Allied troops led by General Douglas MacArthur. The lighting of this lighthouse was essential to the success of the landing because of the narrow channels and the irregular tides.
In mid 1952, Takai was sent to the 525th MIS Group in Fort Bragg, NC, awaiting assignment to the Basic CIC Agent's Course at Fort Holabird, MD. He completed the basic course in 1953 and was assigned as an interpreter in the Dept of International Affairs CEC school. In 1955, Takai completed a 46 week course in Chinese Mandarin at the Defense Language Institute, Presidio of Monterey, CA.
Takai had two other tours of duty in Japan. The first with the 441st CIC Detachment in Nagoya from 1/1956 to 5/1958. Among his primary duties were: counter subversive activities; regional and prefectural level liaison activities with police and other security agency officials in Fukui, Ishikawa, Toyama, Mie, Gifu and Aichi prefectures. In the second tour, 12/1959 to 5/1965, Roy was with the 500th MI Group in Yokohama and Tokyo, and he was involved in liaison activities with national level Japanese police and security agencies.
From 7/1958 to 12/1959, Takai was assigned as the Executive/Operations Officer of Region 2, 113th CIC Detachment, Indianapolis, IN. In 1958, he completed the Advanced Course for Intelligence Officer at Fort Holabird, MD. In 12/1959, he received a telegram asking if he had a cogent reason why he could not be reassigned to Japan. Since his response was negative, Takai was assigned to the 500th MI Group with station at Yokohama.
Takai's last military assignment was a Chief, Requirements Branch, Office of AC of S, G-2, US Continental Army Command (USCONARC) Fort Monroe, VA.. In 10/1965, Takai gave a 30 minute VIP briefing in the Japanese language to General Yoshifusa Amano, Chief of Staff, Japanese Ground Self Defense Force, on the subject of Mission, Functions, and Organization of USCONARC. In attendance were Gen. Freeman, CG of USCONARC and six of his key staff Generals, General Amano and his two aides, BG (Retired) F.P. Munson, Escort Officer to Amano. A few days prior to the briefing, Takai's superior received a call from the Chief of Staff asking if he had given Takai a dry run on his briefing to which the response was no because he could not understand a word of Japanese. The Chief of Staff ordered him to give Takai a dry run and was later advised that the dry run had been accomplished. The laudatory comments included in the letter of appreciation from Gen. Freeman to Takai should be credited to Takai's superior for enduring 30 minutes of Japanese he could not understand. Takai's first use of Japanese in a combat situation was in the interrogation of the lowest rank Japanese soldier, and his last official use of Japanese in his army career was in giving a briefing to the highest ranking Japanese army offficer. A great deal of credit must be given to his step-mother who taught Roy basic Japanese. Takai retired as a Lt. Colonel on March 31, 1966.
Roy is married to Mary Hosokawa. They have five children, ages 46, 45, 41, 38, and 34; and six grandchildren ages 13, 7, 6, 5, 5, and 3.
Takai continued to work as a civilian Federal employee from 9/1966 to 9/1981 as an investigator, equal employment opportunity specialist, and assistant appeals officer. Roy conducted hearings and adjudicated cases on complaints of discrimination. He also held hearings and adjudicated adverse action cases involving Federal employees, i.e., change to lower grade, RIF, termination due to cause, suspension of 30 days or more, etc.
Takai's observances of British Military Force. Personnel are very rank conscious, enlisted personnel known as other ranks are expected to salute officers even in combat zone. Officers have batman (personal servant) in combat zone. Not strange to see batman boiling hot water and pouring same in folding canvas bath for officers in combat zone. Officers eat meals separately from other ranks in combat zone while US officers insure that men are fed before they eat. 'Prayer meetings' are intelligence briefings. 'Gun fire' is a cup of boiled tea with milk served by batman when they awaken officers in the morning. Tea time at 10AM and 4PM no matter where they are or what they are doing. For example, a convoy would stop to have tea at tea time. In Imphal, Takai had a problem with Indian soldier on guard duty because the guard could not understand English and could not recognize the countersign for entrance into the perimeter. Also, Osako and Takai had to abandon their US Army helmets because from a distance they resembled Japanese Army helmets.
