Winning the Peace: Military Intelligence Service Veterans and the Occupation of Japan

Submitted by vkm on Wed, 05/18/2005 - 15:25.

Featured here are essays that describe the extraordinary experiences of three U.S. Military Intelligence Service (MIS) veterans during the Occupation of Japan following World War II – Kan Tagami, who served as personal interpreter-aide to General Douglas MacArthur; Harry K. Fukuhara, assigned to the U.S. Army Counter Intelligence Corps; and George M. Koshi, who helped defend prisoners in the War Crimes Trials, and later contributed to the reform of the legal and judicial system of Japan after the war.

The National Japanese American Veterans Council (NJAVC), a Discover Nikkei Affiliate, selected these winning entries from among the 27 submitted. The NJAVC introduces these essays in this way:

Wars are won on battlefields. Peace is won through successful occupations. The 2004 contest, sponsored by the NJAVC, was focused on the Japan occupation. It invited MIS veterans to submit essays describing their personal, post-war experiences, in their role as American occupiers of the country from which their parents had emigrated.

While the essays serve an historical purpose by recording these first-hand experiences, they also offer important insights into the challenges the United States faces today with the aftermath of the recent wars in the Middle East.

We invite you to read these essays, then join in online discussions about the pieces and their historical impact, as well as their relevance to America’s current foreign policy. (Please note: In order to post comments, you will need first to create an account and log in.)

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The Discover Nikkei Website contains many other military-themed resources, including a Military Experience database that records the service of nearly 7,000 Japanese American veterans, and web links on the themes of War & Resistance.

Recollections of the Japanese Occupation by Kan Tagami ›

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appreciation for MIS veterans
vkm's picture
Submitted by vkm on Tue, 05/24/2005 - 08:09.

One of the greatest perks of being a staff member of the Japanese American National Museum is that I've met and worked with so many very dedicated and amazing volunteers. Many experienced World War II as witnesses and participants. Their personal stories are what have made that time more real to me than mere numbers and dates ever could have...and yet, as often is the case with people who you see every week, you don't tend to take the time to ask them to tell you more. Once you get past the introductions, your meetings are generally quick hellos in the hallway or in the lunchroom. The focus tends to be more on what's happening now, not going back to hear about their past.

Last week, I had the opportunity to listen to a panel of WWII veterans who each spoke of their experiences during the war. Their simply told stories were moving, and very inspiring. It makes me wonder whether I have that kind of courage within myself. I have said 'hi' to most of the panel members on many occasions as I've seen them in the halls at the Museum. One in particular, I see every week. Hitoshi Sameshima was a member of the MIS during the Occupation of Japan. He was actually one of the Nisei linguists that assisted with the Class B War Crimes Trials referred to in George Koshi's essay. When I see Hitoshi, I see him as he is now -- a dedicated volunteer, a Nisei, a veteran, a person who's almost like an uncle (prior to my marriage last year, he always used to ask me if I was married yet.) =)

Listening to him on the panel though, reminded me that there was a lot that happened to him, that he accomplished, that made him who he is now. Earlier this month, one of my father's brothers died suddenly. I regret that I didn't take the time to listen to his stories. The little bits that I did hear are what I remembered and treasured in the week of the funeral and afterwards.


MIS Combat Linguists
Submitted by sigrid on Thu, 08/04/2005 - 15:30.

At the Japanese American National Museum, I recently learned about some of the difficulties MIS interpreters in Japan faced during World War II. It was not hard to empathize with their plight. What pressures and suspicions they must have faced, from American soldiers they served with, as well as from the people of their own home country. These men -- fully bilingual in two languages and "caught" between two cultures -- were indispensable to American forces in WWII.

What was a little harder to understand was the prejudice against these men from other American soldiers. It is really difficult to understand why this type of suspicion exists in our own times:

The Conflict in Iraq: "Combat Linguists" Battle on Two Fronts
Interpreters, some U.S. citizens, face not just Iraqi insurgents but suspicious GIs as well
Los Angeles Times (CA)
June 5, 2005
Author: John M. Glionna and Ashraf Khalil

from the article:

"In Iraq, some interpreters said, soldiers mocked their Arabic surnames and accused them of being 'on the wrong side' of the conflict. Suspicious of his accent and dark features, some soldiers disdainfully labeled Tarik a hajji, a term of respect among Muslims that many American soldiers use with scorn.

The Boston resident felt like he was fighting two wars.

'I don't care what you think of me,' he recalled telling fellow soldiers after arriving in Baghdad in April 2004. 'I'm wearing this uniform. I'm just as much of an American soldier as you are.'"

thanks for posting the quote!
vkm's picture
Submitted by vkm on Fri, 08/19/2005 - 23:46.

That quote really underscores why it's so important for us to keep telling the story of the Japanese American soldiers during WWII - both in Europe and in the Pacific. Thanks so much for posting it!