RELEASED BY THE GO FOR BROKE NATIONAL EDUCATION CENTER:
(TORRANCE, CA - Oct. 22, 2008) - The Go For Broke National Education Center has won a Request for Proposal from the United States Army to collect oral histories from Japanese-American veterans of the Military Intelligence Service (M.I.S.) who served as linguists in occupied Japan. The National Education Center will use the $450,000 awarded for this Japan Occupation Study to interview 30 Nisei linguists a year for three years, working closely with the U.S. Army Center of Military History.
The program comes at the encouragement of U.S. Senator Daniel K. Akaka (D-HI) and the National Japanese American Veterans Council, and follows the Department of Army's 2006 publication of Nisei Linguist: Japanese Americans in the Military Intelligence Service During World War II by Dr. James McNaughton.
"The Nisei linguists who served in the Military Intelligence Service during World War II and the postwar period were vitally important to the reconstruction of Japan and the development of a lasting peace and key political and economic alliances. It is important that we study the successes of the M.I.S. as a model for how our nation can move forward in Iraq and Afghanistan," Senator Akaka said.
The Center for Military History will use the oral histories collected through this program for a sequel to Dr. McNaughton's work that focuses on Nisei linguists during the Japan Occupation. This second publication will also be a scholarly, objective and professional history. The National Education Center has a proven track record and has already built the largest oral history archive of its kind though an ongoing Hanashi Oral History Program. The archive meets or exceeds industry standards.
"Our mission to keep the story of the Nisei veterans alive makes this opportunity to work with the Center of Military History especially meaningful," said Christine Sato-Yamazaki, president and chief executive officer of the National Education Center. "We're also uniquely qualified. We've been conducting oral histories for the past 10 years and have already interviewed more than 900 Japanese-American veterans of World War II. We started work on this program with a data base of approximately 30,000 Nisei solders."
The funding period for the Japan Occupation Study began on Sept. 1, 2008 and continues through Aug. 31, 2009, followed by two 12-month continuation options through Aug. 31, 2011. The budget is $150,000 each year.
The National Education Center is hiring a historical analyst to work exclusively on the program. In addition to background research within its own data base, the organization is reviewing records and materials related to Nisei linguists in the Occupation of Japan held by the National Archives, the Smithsonian Institute and other repositories. Using its research as a base, the National Education Center is conducting and recording oral history interviews, and also, transcribing and editing them.
The National Education Center had already interviewed several Nisei linguists who served in the U.S. M.I.S. during World War II and then stationed in occupied Japan. An estimated 3,000 Nisei M.I.S. members served in Japan from 1945 - 1952, during the U.S. Military's post-World War II occupation.
In addition to its historic work with Nisei veterans, the National Education Center has developed educational curricula for schools in California, Hawaii, Maryland, Virginia and Washington, D.C. The organization provides leadership through all of its programming that preserves and gives future generations lessons about loyalty, personal honor, courage, service to country, strength and determination, and brings it all to life through the experiences of World War II American veterans of Japanese ancestry.
Go For Broke National Education Center membership and information about programs are both available at www.goforbroke.org.
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CONTACT: Mary Graybill, APR, Fellow PRSA FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASEGraybill Communications310-441-2899 • mary@graybillcom.com or graybillcom@gmail.com
