April 4, 2007
by Steve Hammons

The two recent films on the World War II battle for Iwo Jima and the war in the Pacific reminded us of that terrible conflict and looked at two sides of the battle.

In Flags of Our Fathers director Clint Eastwood and producers Steven Spielberg and Robert Lorenz explored the Iwo Jima fight from the perspective of American Marines.

Then, in Letters from Iwo Jima, Eastwood, Spielberg and Lorenz examined the battle from the perspective of the Japanese troops.

There is a unique third experience on Iwo Jima and in the battle in the Pacific - that of the Japanese-Americans of the U.S. Army Military Intelligence Service (MIS).

The top secret MIS was involved in intelligence and communications. MIS men translated captured Japanese documents, intercepted Japanese radio transmissions, tried to break codes, interrogated prisoners and conducted behind-the-lines and deception operations.

Maybe it is time to revisit the exploits and experiences of the MIS in the form of a major motion picture. The special roles of this unit in the Pacific during WWII are an amazing and exciting story.

A documentary film about the MIS was completed several years ago and has been shown on public TV and other media outlets.

That film, Uncommon Courage: Patriotism and Civil Liberties, includes many of the experiences of the men of the MIS that are very important for us now.

It is a valuable resource today for those interested in WWII history, U.S. social and cultural history, civil liberties, military intelligence, cryptography, psychological operations and many other very relevant elements.

Uncommon Courage also recounts the experiences of some MIS men and their families - American citizens - who were forcibly relocated to detention camps within the U.S.

Can Eastwood, Spielberg and Lorenz find meaning in this important third perspective on Iwo Jima and the war in the Pacific? There is a clear and very interesting linkage between the story of the MIS and their other two recent films.

Can a feature film be financed, created and marketed that tells the complex story of the MIS?

Any future films on the story of the MIS would find rich and heartfelt material not only in the danger faced by the MIS men at war, but also the family love and community solidarity of their loved ones in America.

The racial prejudice at home, the frightening evaporation of basic Constitutional legal rights for Japanese-American U.S. citizens and the imprisonment in relocation detention camps tell a story of American families enduring extreme hardship while their sons, fathers, uncles, nephews, cousins and neighbors were fighting for America overseas.

TOP SECRET UNIT

Activities of the MIS were highly classified and to this day are not widely known. Information about the MIS and its operations was not made public until over 30 years after the war.

After the Pearl Harbor attack, America found itself in a massive conflict with the military of a culture very different from our own: Japan.

The Japanese military and Japanese society had, in many ways, a different social fabric, a different psychology, different spiritual traditions and was a different ethnic group in significant ways.

This MIS bridged this gap and conducted a wide range of intelligence, reconnaissance, psychological and information operations.

MIS personnel were active in nearly all major campaigns and battles in the Pacific as well as in Burma and China.

They performed intelligence and counterintelligence tasks such as intercepting radio messages, interrogating prisoners, translating captured maps and documents, infiltrating enemy lines, flushing caves - convincing soldiers and civilians to leave fortified caves on remote islands.

MIS interrogators used psychological and cultural understanding to help Japanese prisoners undo the indoctrination they had received at home.

Interestingly, in contrast to recent and current infamous U.S. interrogation and torture activities, MIS men treated captured Japanese prisoners with decency and dignity, according to many accounts.

Through these methods, valuable intelligence was reportedly obtained.

Any story about the MIS must also ask why these Japanese-American young men, mostly from the west coast and Hawaii, join the MIS?

Why did they side with America against the military of the land of their parents, grandparents and ancestors?

Although they were raised as American kids, they experienced significant racial prejudice and discriminatory laws. After Pearl Harbor, Japanese-American families were stripped of property and businesses, then forced into the infamous relocation detention camps.

Many MIS men emerged out of this environment.

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Despite this treatment, the MIS men fought with courage and were crucial to success during the war in the Pacific. By some estimates, MIS missions may have shortened the Pacific war by up to two years.

During the occupation of Japan from 1945 to 1952, over 5,000 MIS personnel were assigned to duties in the occupation military government including intelligence, civil affairs, disarmament, finance, education, land reform and helping in the development of the Japanese Constitution.

Men of the MIS also demonstrated intelligence and compassion both during the war and in the occupation. They helped win a military victory, then helped make peace and win friends for the United States.

They were key in rebuilding the nation of Japan and helping that society recover from devastating social, psychological and physical damage.

DOCUMENTARY FILM

The beginnings, development and deployment into combat of the MIS were described in much detail in the documentary Uncommon Courage. It used archived film, photos, documents and interviews with MIS veterans.

This documentary was written, produced and directed by Gayle K. Yamada and narrated by veteran broadcast journalist Ken Kashiwahara.

The film examines the pre-WWII awareness by military intelligence personnel in Washington, D.C., that more linguists in the Japanese language were going to be needed.

The efforts and activities recruiting and training these linguists from second-generation Japanese-Americans, called "Nisei," are explored in the film.

The roles of other Japanese-American units such as the 100th Infantry Battalion and the 442nd Regimental Combat Team are also examined in the film.

The internment of Japanese-Americans at home is also addressed in this documentary. MIS vets tell about the mixed feelings as they fought for their country, the U.S., while that same government had placed their families in harsh relocation camps, surrounded by barbed wire and armed guards.

The value and fragility of our civil liberties today is brought home by this aspect of the film.

In the Pacific, as American and allied forces fought the Japanese navy and army, the film follows the MIS men who were attached to U.S. Navy, Army and Marine units.

Interpreting captured documents and enemy radio traffic, and interrogating prisoners are vividly documented through archived military film.

Details of the outcomes of this intelligence gathering are also presented, noting the contribution to many U.S. victories.

MIS veterans tell stories of harrowing episodes of clearing Japanese soldiers from island caves and using their shared ethnic heritage to accomplish other missions for U.S. forces.

Uncommon Courage follows the MIS during and after the Japanese surrender and in the occupation of Japan. MIS veterans explain their role in building rapport with the Japanese people.

This documentary is an excellent source of information in and of itself. It could also be a jumping-off point for future film projects about the war in the Pacific and the interaction of the MIS with their American comrades and their Japanese adversaries.

Maybe one day soon we will see a third feature film by Eastwood, Spielberg and Lorenz about Iwo Jima, the MIS, their loved ones and the battles that were won on many fronts then.

For more information on the MIS, visit the Web site of the Military Intelligence Service Research Center at: njahs.org/misnorcal/index.htm

Additional resources are available at the Web site of the Go For Broke Educational Foundation at: http://www.goforbroke.org/

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Steve Hammons [send him email] has worked as a journalist, editor, counselor, juvenile probation peace officer, public safety urgent-response specialist, teacher, instructor and US Government researcher. He graduated from Ohio University with studies in communications/journalism, health education/psychology and pre-law. Hammons's two novels, Mission into Light and Light's Hand, tell the story of a US joint-service military and intelligence research team investigating emerging special topics. Visit the novels' home page at: www.navyseals.com/community/members/ohio52