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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