01/16/2025
Secret Warriors
at the History Theatre in St. Paul
by R.A. Shiomi
Directed by Lily Tung Crystal
Join Hart Travel's group on Sunday, April 6 for the 2 pm show. Cost is $95 pp and includes motor coach transportation from the Alexandria area and along I-94 to St. Paul, lunch before the show, and your show ticket.
They are the warriors you don’t know. Inspired by the stories of the Japanese-Americans who served as translators and interrogators for the U.S. Armed Forces, Secret Warriors features two men, Koji Kimura and Tamio Takahashi, who took extraordinary risks to save their fellow soldiers in the Pacific Theater during World War II. Discover their compelling personal journeys and heartfelt love stories set against the backdrop of the war and the incarceration of their families.
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This drama focuses on the local connection and forgotten experiences of the Japanese Americans (Nisei) who were trained right here in Minnesota.
The Nisei have made every effort to discard rather than retain their Japanese background. By doing so, they have tried to prove that they are "100 per cent Americans." By gallantly fighting in the nation's battles, and by wholeheartedly serving in occupied Japan, they proved their loyalty to their native land, the United States.
The US government realized the need for the army to understand the Japanese language and culture. The War Department came up with a blueprint for a military intelligence language school that would rely on Nisei - second generation Japanese-Americans to be their students. They started looking for a community that would accept Americans for their true worth. After being denied by several Midwestern states, the Governor of Minnesota, Harold Stassen, accepted the request.
Fort Snelling became a place that trained, educated, and redied translators and code breakers for the war effort int the Pacific
Theater. The school's initial function was teaching students Japanese reading, writing, interrogation, translation, and interpretation. Students also studied captured documents; Japanese geography and map reading; Japanese military organization and technical terms; radio monitoring; and the social, political, economic and cultural background of Japan.
Graduates of the school were assigned to army units in the Pacific Theatre and quickly proved their value in the field by giving American forces the much-needed advantage of code breakers and negotiators. After the war, the school moved to California. It served as a testament to the commitment and loyalty of the Japanese-American community in the US.
The History of the Military Intelligence Service Language School (MISLS) and its expansion tells the extent of the Nisei's accomplishment and recognition. Among many sad stories of exclusion and discrimination toward Japanese-Americans, this is one of trust and confidence.
