Masaji Gene Uratsu grew up in a farming family in Placer County, a rural area northeast of Sacramento. 

At age nine, Uratsu's parents' sent him to Kumamoto Prefecture in Japan to study for five years. By 1931, he had become fluent in Japanese and returned to the United States and the Great Depression. After he graduated from high school, he spent two difficult years on the farm. He had planned to move to Berkeley to live with his uncle and in a city because farm life did not agree with him. When he checked his draft status and he discovered that he would soon be called for duty. Instead of waiting for the Army to call him, he enlisted in March 1941: "My loathing of farming was so great, that any opportunity to explore other options was welcome." [Oral History]

After training to be a gunner, the Military Intelligence Service (MIS) Language School summoned him to the Presidio to be part of the first class of the MIS Language School. Finally, he had made it to a city.

Already fluent in Japanese, Uratsu spent most of his time studying military terminology, and after graduation he joined the language school as a teacher. He received the rank of sergeant and the title sensei (teacher). The teachers worked hard, developing curriculum and correcting essay tests during the weekends while students went into town to relax. Uratsu remembers how John Aiso, the school's director, kept the teachers motivated:

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We just simply hated his [Aiso's] guts. As a matter of fact, he was known as Der Hitler among us and the civilian instructors.... I now realize that there was a method to his demeanor. He had a job to do. In his hands were the reputation and success of the language students. The failure to produce at the school would have had a disastrous effect in the future usefulness of the Nisei soldiers. [Oral History]
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After one year of teaching-against the wishes of Aiso and Uratsu's parents, who were in a detention camp at Amache, Colo.-Uratsu made himself available for overseas duty. In October 1943, he led 60 men to Brisbane, Australia, to the Allied Translation and Interpreter Section (ATIS). For six months he worked behind a desk on translation, but the same urge he had on the farm made him ask for combat duty. He wanted to see action.

In the middle of 1944, he participated in his first battle-the Aitape landing in New Guinea. During his work in New Guinea, he received a Bronze Star:

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We received word that there were Japanese soldiers holed up in a nearby cave and a call came for a linguist to volunteer to "talk" these soldiers into surrendering.... I did it on impulse. As I approached the cave, I called out to the Japanese soldiers that they would be safe if they surrendered. There was no response, but I continued, telling them that I was leaving my sidearm outside and was going in.... Entering the cave, I displayed my empty hands and my Japanese face, appealed to their reason and was finally able to convince them that they would not be killed. Ten agonizing minutes later, I was able to lead these soldiers out of the cave. [Oral History]
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His gutsy impulse saved the soldiers and gave him notoriety amongst the other soldiers. In another incident, Uratsu's "face" caused a comical incident of mistaken identity while he worked on a clean-up campaign in Sarmi:

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I developed a generalized dermatitis, which was resistant to all the drugs available to the medics. A medical officer recommended that I go swimming in seawater and then dry myself in the sun. So, I followed his instructions and while bathing in the ocean-out of uniform, of course since there are no GI swimsuits-I was confronted by rifle-bearing GIs who mistook me for the enemy and apprehended me as their prisoner.... When "turned in" at RCT headquarters, I was recognized in my nakedness. Ironically, my "captors" were rewarded with "R&R" in Australia for their "vigilance." [Oral History]
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He continued to work in combat zones, often "cleaning-up" an area after the initial battle had been won. He steadily moved through New Guinea and ended up on Luzon, the main island of the Philippines. There he heard news of the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, and Japan's surrender. Like many other Japanese American linguists, he was commissioned in preparation for the Occupation of Japan.

In Japan, he interpreted and worked as a personal aide to a commanding general. In 1945, he returned to the United States for a short stint but realized that farm life was not for him and returned to Japan in December. First, he worked in the Civil Censorship Department and then in the G-2 Historical Section. He worked with Japanese military officers to write a history of the war from their perspective and integrated it with the perspectives of the U.S. officers to create full military history of the war in the Pacific.

For 21 years, Uratsu served in the U.S. Army, including service in the Korean War and acting as the liaison between the U.S. Far East Command and the Japanese government.
Uratsu, Gene - Bio.doc

Scott Hoshida	Page 2	4/7/03


