HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

H.R. NO.

171

TWENTY-EIGHTH LEGISLATURE, 2015

 

STATE OF HAWAII

 

 

 

 

 

HOUSE RESOLUTION

 

 

Commending the veterans of the military intelligence service for their courage and sacrifice in the service of our nation.

 

 

 

     WHEREAS, unknown to the general public, several thousand residents from Hawaii, almost all of them Americans of Japanese ancestry, served with the U.S. Army's MILITARY INTELLIGENCE SERVICE in the war against Japan; and

 

     WHEREAS, these soldiers used their knowledge of the enemy's language and culture as interpreters, translators, electronic eavesdroppers, prisoner-of-war interrogators, cave flushers, and combat infantrymen; and

 

     WHEREAS, although the MILITARY INTELLIGENCE SERVICE Nisei were credited with saving countless lives and shortening the war, their service went largely unheralded because of the secrecy surrounding their work and the often-temporary, unrecorded character of their service; and

 

     WHEREAS, they were present at the formal surrender of Japan command 70-years ago this year, then played a vital role in rebuilding a defeated Japan as a modern democracy and a vital U.S. partner in the Pacific; and

 

     WHEREAS, the MILITARY INTELLIGENCE SERVICE veterans, with their brothers in the 100th Infantry Battalion and 442nd Regimental Combat Team, returned home to contribute to the modern Hawaii we all enjoy today, including such leaders as former Governor George Ariyoshi, Hawaii Supreme Court Justices Masaji Marumoto and Yoshimi Hayashi, Judges Frank Takao and Andrew Sato, Attorneys Ted Tsukiyama and Francis Sogi, businessmen Ralph Yempuku and Kazuo Yamane, labor leader Koji Ariyoshi, educators Teichiro Hirata and Richard Kosaki, and thousands of others who contributed to our Hawaii Nei; and
     WHEREAS, to mark the 70th anniversary of the conclusion of the war in the Pacific, the MILITARY INTELLIGENCE SERVICE Veterans Club of Hawaii is holding a National Reunion on March 27-28, 2015, to honor the memory of the fallen, celebrate the service of the veterans who responded to the nation's call to duty, and preserve the legacy of the men and women who gave so much in building our state and nation; now, therefore,

 

     BE IT RESOLVED by the House of Representatives of the Twenty-eighth Legislature of the State of Hawaii, Regular Session of 2015, that this body commends the veterans of the MILITARY INTELLIGENCE SERVICE for their courage and sacrifice in the service of our nation, expresses its gratitude for their invaluable contributions to modernize Hawaii, and extends its best wishes for a successful National Reunion.

 

 

 

 

OFFERED BY:

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Report Title: 

Military Intelligence Service, Veterans of World War II