‘Prejudice and Patriotism’ Tells Story of MIS Nisei
The National Japanese American Historical Society and The Presidio Trust are pleased to announce a new exhibit and program series Prejudice and Patriotism: The Story of Japanese Americans in the Military Intelligence Service 1941-1952, to enrich the public’s understanding of the Japanese American experience at the Presidio of San Francisco. This program/exhibit will take place Wednesday Nov. 11, through January 31, 2010 at the Officers’ Club, at 50 Moraga Ave. in the Presidio of San Francisco. Hours for the exhibit will be Wednesdays to Sundays 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Admission is free.
There will be a celebratory special opening reception and ceremony honoring World War II Nisei Veterans on Saturday, Nov. 14, from 2 p.m. to 4 p.m. in the Moraga Room at the Officers’ Club. This event will also feature a special performance by musician and author George Yoshida, who served in the MIS at Fort Snelling, and the celebrated J-Town Jazz Ensemble. Also included in the afternoon’s activities will be a walking tour of the MIS story by the National Park Service rangers, a new documentary film on veteran of the MIS and Merrill’s Marauders Roy Matsumoto and a panel discussion by MIS veterans, Major Gene Uratsu, Col. Tom Sakamoto, Col. Harry Fukuhara and Ranger Roy Matsumoto. The panel will be moderated by Dr. Stephen Payne, Defense Language Institute command historian.
The exhibit will illustrate the story of the Japanese American soldier linguists, from their secret training at the Presidio of San Francisco’s Building 640, one month prior to the attack at Pearl Harbor, to the battlefields of the Pacific Theater and to the Allied Occupation of Japan and the Korean War.
An 11-minute DVD installation by gayle yamada and After the Wars, a unique collection of Japanese American veterans’ portraits and interviews by photographer Tom Graves will also be featured in the exhibit. Complementing the exhibit will be a series of public programs that will explore the historical significance in of the MIS and Japanese American incarceration experience in World War II.
In After the Wars: Lessons from America’s Nisei Heroes, photographer Tom Graves shares experiences collected in his many interviews and portraits of Nisei veterans.
He says, “This exhibit honors the patriotic Nisei soldiers who fought in the Pacific; and it honors their brothers who fought through Europe (and later, Korea) with machine guns, grenades and bayonets.”
The collection has been viewed by thousands at Fort Knox, NJAHS, the American Legion National Convention and the National Steinbeck Center. Graves also wrote and produced An American Story, a DVD presentation on the history of Nisei veterans in California, available online at www.njahs.org/shop.
For more information contact Tom Graves at (415) 550-7241 or This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .
The “Prejudice and Patriotism” program events will also serve as a prelude to the long-anticipated project to create a permanent home for the story of the MIS at Building 640. The National Japanese American Historical Society, together with the National Park Service and Presidio Trust, are in the final stages of design/planning of the Military Intelligence Service Historic Learning Center (Building 640), situated within the Presidio.
The Center will serve as a national public education center and adaptive re-use project that preserves the original site of the U.S. Army’s first language school while memorializing the heroic contributions of the MIS linguist soldiers, along with its “First Class” during World War II and the Allied occupation of Japan.
For further information regarding our November to January program, contact NJAHS at (415) 921-5007 or visit www.njahs.org
