Like many Nisei in Hawaii, Raymond Harada learned to speak Japanese at home and at school. He also studied in Japan after graduating from high school. He returned to the United States in February of 1941 to avoid being conscripted into the Japanese Army. Upon his return, Harada was drafted into the U.S. Army. A few weeks after Harada entered the Army, Pearl Harbor was attacked. On the same day as the attack, Harada's father was taken by the FBI and sent to the mainland to be interned at a detention camp. 
<br><br>By this time Harada had already had military training in both countries, having participated in compulsory training in Japanese school and having acquired ROTC experience from his high school in Hawaii. While at Camp McCoy as a member of the 100th Infantry Battalion, Harada was recruited for the Military Intelligence Service (MIS) and sent with 80 others to Camp Savage. After graduating from the language school in June 1943, he stayed on to teach until late 1944. As one of the original members of the Pacific Military Intelligence Research Section (PACMIRS), he was stationed at Camp Ritchie for the duration of the war.
<br><br>Despite some unpleasant experiences that he and other Nisei faced because of their ethnicity, Harada considers the Nisei contributions to the war as nothing out of the ordinary. Because of their Japanese heritage and upbringing, Japanese Americans, in Harada's opinion, were able to endure the bad and go all out to prove loyalty to the United States.
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Our attitude toward what we did, like being in the service and so forth...we went all out despite the fact that we did have a lot of humiliating experiences. But we overlooked it....because of serving in the military service, we had proven our loyalty and this is the most important thing. Today, you know, nothing bothers me....I know I've served and we've proven our loyalty. And so nobody, no one can take it away from us.
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<br><br>Having reenlisted in the Army after a break of two years, Harada was sent to Occupied Japan in 1947 as part of the Allied Translator and Interpreter Section (ATIS). He later volunteered as a special agent in the Counter Intelligence Corps (CIC) and interrogated repatriates from Soviet Union and other Japanese prisoners of war. He was also a part of the 3rd operations group in the mid-1950s, serving as a liaison with the government of Japan. 
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Being a Japanese American and knowledgeable of both cultures, I figured that one thing we could do was promote better relationship between [Japan and] the United States of America....[our] rapport with the Japanese was such that they trusted the Japanese Americans....we tried to bring both parties closer together. And I think, in relation to some other, a person of another background, they wouldn't understand the Japanese as well as we did...we were in a position to interpret the Japanese better than anyone else.
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<br><br>He continued working in Japan for seven years. For his work as a language aide with the U.S. Civil Administration in Okinawa, Harada received the Legion of Merit award.
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You know, without Japanese Americans it would have been a long war.
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