Secret Japanese-American Mission

Secret Japanese-American Mission

From a news story by
CNN San Francisco Reporter Rusty Dornin

June 25, 2001

A day of infamy, a day that chilled the hearts of many Japanese-Americans.

Marvin Uratsu says, "We were a despised ethnic group after Pearl Harbor. And yet when the call came from Uncle Sam, "Hey, we need you to help in this war effort," Gene and Marvin Uratsu joined the U.S. Military Intelligence Service, a secret group of Japanese- Americans who faced the Japanese as the enemy.

Gayle Yamada is a documentary filmmaker who says, "They translated documents in the field, translated maps, and interrogated prisoners."

[One] U.S. soldier interrogating a prisoner during the war [asked], "How long have you been on this island?"

Gene Uratsu says, "The prisoners were our enemy so I treated them as enemy and interrogated them for whatever information we could dig out."

Digging out information often meant translating diaries of captured Japanese soldiers and then there was something known as "cave flushing."

Gene Uratsu helped coax Japanese soldiers and civilians out of caves in the South Pacific. Sometimes they refused, fearful of what would happen to them after they were captured.

In this rarely seen army footage, some chose to jump to their deaths rather than surrender.

"That's where I was."

The Uratsus stood shoulder to shoulder with other U.S. soldiers on the battlefront. On the home front, it was a different story. Sound [echoes] from the documentary newsreel [as a voice says], "They are not prisoners, they are not detainees, they are merely dislocated people."

Gene Uratsu says, "Mother was very upset because she gave three sons to the United States Army, yet she was behind barbed wire."

The MIS never received official recognition until last year, when these Japanese-Americans received a presidential unit citation. Now a new documentary, ''Uncommon Courage," recounts their efforts.

The Uratsus hope the 60th anniversary of Pearl Harbor won't bring back the hatred their family once felt.

Marvin Uratsu says, "I hope that the movie, "Pearl Harbor," does not plant any seeds like that, seeds of racism that could come back to haunt us."

Related Websites:

Japanese-American interment during WW II and other sites.

Japanese-American interment : Race, Racism and the Law web site
The Conflict Behind the Battle Lines: The San Francisco Chronicle article
Relocation of Japanese Americans: The Museum of the City of San Francisco web site
Japanese Americans: Texas Forces Military Museum web site
Bittersweet memorial honors Japanese-Americans in WWII: CNN.com

Sites related to the bombing of Pearl Harbor on 12/07/41.