A Little Known Case For Redress Railroad and Mine Workers

              Nikkei Heritage • Spring 1998
Sakamoto (Cont'd from p. 9)
Panmunjon. I later served in Vietnam
on the headquarters general staff. I was
awarded the Legion of Merit for overseeing counterintelligence during the
Tet offensive of 1968.
Succeeding military assignments
advanced me to key positions in the
U.S. Army. In 1966, I succeeded Lt.
Col. Barry Saiki, another Nisei, in the
sensitive position of Chief of Security
for all military installations in the
Sixth Army, (formerly known as the
Western Defense Command). I had
come full circle - back to the Presidio
of San Francisco, where I had begun
my career at MISLS. In 1941, my loyalty had been automatically suspect as a
member of an "enemy race"; now I was
Chief of Security at the very Army
headquarters which had implemented
E.O. 9066. Ironically, if Lt. Col Saiki or
I had held the position in 1942, we
would have been responsible for the
eviction of our own families, friends
and communities. ■
Saiki (Cont'd from p. 9	
Instead of rational pro and con views
on eviction, the meeting turned into a
parade of anti-Japanese allegations.
Beginning March 2, a series of
proclamations forced all Japanese
Americans on the West Coast out of
our businesses, homes and farms,
piecemeal. My father was separately
interned. The rest of our family was
sent to Stockton Assembly Center and
then to Rohwer, AR. After a year, I
relocated to Chicago to do defense
work.
By early 1944, more than 15,000
Nisei had moved into the Chicago
area. In 1944, more than a thousand
Nisei in Illinois were inducted, in large
groups so that they could be sent to
segregated units. I was drafted in
August 1944, and inducted in
November. After basic training, I was
selected for Officer Candidate School
(OCS) at Ft. Benning, GA and commissioned on Sept. 5,1945, too late for
combat.
With the war over, Japanese-,
German- and Italian-speaking officers
were needed to implement the transition to peace in the Occupied countries. I volunteered for specialized
training at the Counter Intelligence
Corps (CIC) School at Ft. Holabird,
Baltimore, MD. In March 1946, I was
sent to Tokyo. The CIC's primary mission in Japan was to ensure that
Occupation policies were understood
and obeyed and to maintain close
observation on ultranationalists and
diehard militarists. My work involved
close, daily contacts with Japanese in
government, politics, the press, and
other organizations to detect criticism
and dissent in the early stages and
handle it expeditiously.
During the Occupation, MIS personnel were engaged in civil censorship, military government, processing
of repatriates, demobilization, and war
crimes, as well as linguistic support of
Gen. MacArthur's Headquarters.
Nisei military linguists also played a
key role in the Korean War, because
Japanese was spoken by many
Koreans. My second overseas tour was
with a special operational group in
Tokyo, which handled all espionage
cases involving Koreans, Chinese and
Soviets.
Alternating with duties such as
these, were stints at the CIC school in
Baltimore. Initially, Nisei instructors
were assigned only to teach Japanese
language and history. However, as our
abilities were recognized, we were
assigned to teach regular intelligence
courses in 1952, when I taught classes
Ma]. Bruce Silvis and Lt. Barry Saiki of the
Counterintelligence Corps in Occupied Japan,
C. 1946. Courtesy of Barry Saiki.
in Investigation. A generation of CIC
students came to view Niseis as trustworthy and capable instructors.
In my final assignment, at the
Presidio of San Francisco, I assumed
responsibility for the Military Security
Division in G-2 which was responsible
for all military security programs in
Sixth US Army, which then covered
eight Western States including California. I essentially held the same job that
Maj. Bendetsen had in 1942. Had I
been Chief of Security then, I would
have been responsible for security for
such delicate matters as the eviction of
Japanese Americans from the West
Coast. Tom Sakamoto succeeded me in
this post when I retired in Nov. 1966.
Tom and I were somewhat unique.
However, many Nisei officers had
attained the requisite rank, background and experience to hold sensitive intelligence jobs at the 1st, 2nd and
5th Army Headquarters.
I firmly believe that important and
sensitive security positions assigned to
Nisei officers were the result of the
Department of the Army's recognition that Nisei soldiers had more than
proved our loyalty. We had earned the
respect of our superiors, and our
peers, not only during the crucial war
years, but throughout decades of consistently loyal and effective intelligence
service, which merited key assignments, if not medals. ■
14    National Japanese American Historical Society