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The following is a list of terms and acronyms associated with the Military Intelligence Service.

ADVANTIS Advanced Allied Translator Interpreter Services

AEF   Allied Expeditionary Forces

Americal Division   American army unit involved in defending New Caledonia (hence the name Americal) and thereafter battling in various spots in the Pacific, including Guadalcanal, Bougainville, and the Philippines.

Army Specialized Training Program (ASTP)   During World War II, the U. S. Army established training programs at universities to train soldiers in skills such as engineering, languages, and medicine.

ATIS   Allied Translator and Interpreter Section

CBI   China-Burma-India Theater

CCD   Civil Censorship Detachment

CIC   1) Counter Intelligence Corps or 2) Central Interrogation Center
CIP   Corps of Intelligence Police

Civil Affairs Training School

  Training school at Yale University.


Civil Censorship Detachment   Unit under the Supreme Commander for the Allied Powers (SCAP), responsible for reviewing all Japanese publications (1945–1949) for censorship issues.

COMSOPAC   Commander, South Pacific Force and Area

CSDIC   Combined Services Detailed Interrogation Center

DLI

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  Defense Language Institute

Executive Order 9066   Signed by President Franklin D. Roosevelt on February 19, 1942, the order authorized the U.S. War Department to “prescribe military areas…from which any or all persons may be excluded.” This directive set in motion the mass removal of Japanese Americans from the West Coast.

FEAF   Far East Air Force

GHQ   General Headquarters, referring to General Douglas MacArthur’s headquarters.

G-2   U.S. Army intelligence

Great Marianas Turkey Shoot   June 1944 air battle off the coast of Saipan in which more than 300 Japanese aircraft were destroyed. Translation of the captured “Z-Plan” by MIS linguists provided information about the Japanese Navy’s plans and led directly to U.S. naval victories in the Mariana Islands.

gyokusai   Japanese term literally translated as ”breaking of a jewel”; connotes Japanese military’s belief that soldiers must either fight to death or commit suicide in defeat.

hakujin   Japanese term for people of European descent.

Hawaii Provisional Infantry Battalion   Special military unit made up of Japanese Americans from the Hawaii Territorial Guard. It becomes known as the 100th Infantry Battalion.


Hawaii Territorial Guard (also known as Hawaii National Guard)

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  U.S. military unit composed of 317 Nisei members who, after the attack on Pearl Harbor, were discharged without explanation and classified as 4-C, "enemy aliens."

Issei   First generation immigrants of Japanese ancestry

Japanese American Evacuation Claims
Act
  In 1948, President Harry Truman signed the act, provisioning $38 million to Japanese Americans for economic losses suffered due to forced internment.

Japan Defense Agency   Japan’s postwar administrative organization responsible for the management and operation of the country’s ground, air, and maritime forces.

JICPOA   Joint Intelligence Center, Pacific Ocean Area (Hawaii)

Kachin   Ethnic group that lives in parts of Burma, India, and China.

kempeitai   Japanese military police

kendo   Japanese traditional fencing that uses fighting methods of the ancient warrior (samurai).

Kibei

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  Japanese-American returnees to America; those who had received formal education in Japan.

Mars Task Force   Also known as the 5332nd Brigade (Provisional), this special unit replaced Merrill’s Marauders to begin offensive operations along the Burma Road.

Merrill’s Marauders   Also known as the 5307th Composite Unit (Provisional), this special unit trained in jungle warfare captured Northern Burma from the Japanese and reopened the Burma Road so that supply routes to China could be reestablished.

military police   A disciplinary force made up of soldiers that exercises police and related functions in armies; may also engage in combat when necessary

MIS   Military Intelligence Service

MISLS   Military Intelligence Service Language School

Nikkei   Japanese lineage; persons of Japanese ancestry.

Nisei   Second generation Americans of Japanese ancestry; children of Issei.

OCS   Officers Candidate School

OSS   Office of Strategic Services

OWI

 

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  Office of War Information; created in 1942 as a U.S. government propaganda agency. Using photographs and captions, the OWI’s mission was to whet patriotism among Americans during World War II.

PACMIRS   Pacific Military Intelligence Research Section (Camp Ritchie, MD)

POWs   Prisoners of War

SCAP   Supreme Commander for the Allied Powers

SEATIC   Southeast Asia Translation and Interrogation Center (New Delhi, India)

SHAEF   Supreme Headquarters Allied Expeditionary Force (Versailles, France)

SINTIC   Sino Translation and Interrogation Center

sosho   Form of Japanese cursive writing, literally translated as “grass writing".

TAI   Technical Air Intelligence

V-J Day   “Victory over Japan Day”; the day on which fighting with Japan officially ended (August 15, 1945); sometimes refers to the day surrender documents were formally signed (September 2, 1945).

WACs   Women’s Army Corps

war crimes trials

 

 

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  Trials held in Japan, China, the Philippines, French Indochina, and the East Indies, to prosecute and punish war criminals involved in Pacific Theater operations. MIS linguists provided much of the translation and interpretation services in court. Some also worked as defense attorneys and monitors.

yamato damashi   Literally translated, “the soul or spirit of Japan”; refers to Japanese national pride.

Z-Plan   Japanese Navy’s plans to counter and destroy U.S. naval forces in the Marianas and the Philippines. The plan was captured and translated by U.S. forces. Information from the document led to Allied victory in the area, known as the “Great Marianas Turkey Shoot.”

100th Infantry Battalion   In 1942, the Hawaiian Provisional Infantry Battalion was formed, comprising many young Nisei who had been discharged after the attack on Pearl Harbor. The battalion was later redesignated as the 100th Infantry Battalion. After heavy fighting in North Africa, the 100th was assigned as the 1st Infantry Battalion of the 442nd Regimental Combat Team to engage in numerous battles in the European Theater. Because of the severity of injuries and the number of casualties, the battalion also became known as the “Purple Heart Battalion.”

442nd Regimental Combat Team   Following the 100th Infantry Battalion’s success in combat training, the U.S. Army activated the 442nd Regimental Combat Team on February 1, 1943. The group gathered Nisei from Hawaii and those interned in detention camps on the mainland. The 442nd teamed up with the 100th Battalion to fight in Italy. The regiment also fought in France and Germany.

4-C   Term used by the United States to denote those deemed “enemy alien.” Immediately after the Pearl Harbor attack, the U.S. government classified all Japanese Americans serving in the U.S. military as 4-C, providing a basis for prompt dismissal of the Nisei and making Japanese Americans ineligible for the draft.

4th Army Intelligence School
(also known as U.S. Army Language School)
  The U.S. Army began the language school at the Presidio in San Francisco to answer the need for Japanese language specialists for the war. During the war years it was known as the Military Intelligence Service Language School, and later changed to the Defense Language Institute in Monterey, California.
     

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Go to njahs.org

© 2003 Military Intelligence Service Association of Northern California