The Forgotten Nisei Linguists — Japanese-American Intelligence in the Pacific

While the 442nd Regimental Combat Team is celebrated for their battlefield heroics, a smaller group of Japanese-American soldiers performed equally critical work in intelligence. The Military Intelligence Service (MIS) trained over 6,000 Nisei (second-generation Japanese-Americans) as translators, interpreters, and interrogators. Many of these soldiers had families in American internment camps while they were deployed to the Pacific theater. Nisei linguists translated captured Japanese documents — including the famous 'Z Plan,' which revealed Japanese fleet dispositions before the Battle of Leyte Gulf. They interrogated prisoners (many of whom had never been captured alive before), translated suicide notes, and even wrote propaganda leaflets dropped over Japan. General Douglas MacArthur called their work 'invaluable,' and General Willoughby estimated that they 'shortened the Pacific War by two years.' After the war, Nisei soldiers served as interpreters at the Tokyo War Crimes Trials and helped translate the Japanese surrender documents.