Japan did not account for the employment of the Nisei in the US military.
For some Japanese Americans, it was difficult to reconcile using the Japanese language for American victory when one’s dog tags bore the address of the camp back home in the United States where your parents were incarcerated. Others studied Japanese as youths at language schools in the United States and never became fluent in the language of their parents.Ĭommunicating directly with the enemy, in the language of one’s parents, was incredibly fraught, and for some, presented difficult questions about identity and heritage. Some of the Nisei who operated as translators were Kibei, those who had been sent before the war from America back to Japan to study. Most of the students were Nisei, but it was found that only one in 10 of these American students were fluent enough in Japanese to be useful. On November 1, 1941, the US Military Intelligence Service (MIS) established a school for Japanese translation and interpretation at The Presidio in San Francisco. Prior to the Pearl Harbor attack, the United States recognized a critical lack of knowledge of the Japanese language. The contributions of Nisei (second-generation Japanese Americans) in the realm of intelligence and communications were vital to victory in the Pacific. Roughly 6,000 Japanese Americans served as translators and interpreters with the Military Intelligence Service (MIS) in the Pacific.
Despite this treatment, 33,000 Japanese Americans served their country in Europe and the Pacific, earning numerous honors. Nearly 120,000 men, women, and children were forced from their homes and confined in camps for years, without benefit of trial. Their loyalty to the nation was questioned, and their basic rights were stripped away. During World War II, individuals of Japanese ancestry in the United States, predominantly American citizens, were seen by many as the enemy.
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