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Re: How can I obtain the bio of a Nisei during WWII?
Research Services at the National Archives
Aug 3, 2017 2:12 PM
3 of 3 people found this helpfulDear Mr. Streifer,
Thank you for posting your inquiry to the History Hub.
It is extremely unlikely that the National Archives would have any personal or biographical information about the individual you are researching, but you might review the series from RG 331 (Records of Allied Operational and Occupation Headquarters, World War II) where the original document is located to search for further relevant information. You may be able to find information on a broader level about translators, though. The series Monthly Reports, 7/8/1946-3/21/1947 from RG 554: Records of General Headquarters, Far East Command, Supreme Commander Allied Powers, and United Nations Command, for example, “consists of statistical reports on personnel strengths and productivity for each of the component sections of Allied Translator and Interpreter Service.”
In addition, you may wish to contact the National Diet Library (NDL), Japan’s national library, directly to see if they can offer further information. We also suggest that you contact the Military History Department, National Institute for Defense Studies, 2-2-1 Nakameguro, Meguro-ku, Tokyo 153-8648, Japan. The web site is http://www.nids.go.jp/english/index.html. They may be able to offer you further assistance.
Finally, if the individual you are researching was a member of the U.S. military, you might be able to request his Official Military Personnel File (OMPF) from the National Personnel Records Center (NPRC) in St. Louis. You can email them at mpr.center@nara.gov or mpr.assistance@nara.gov.
Thank you, again, for sharing your question with the History Hub, and good luck with your ongoing search.
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Re: How can I obtain the bio of a Nisei during WWII?
Just a quick update.
1. C.H. Nagano and Pat Nagano are NOT the same person.
2. Pat Nagano was a Nisei, a second-generation Japanese-American.
3. C.H. Nagano was a Japanese-American who was swept up along with tens of thousands of other Japanese living in California following the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor.
4. Then in 1942, C.H. Nagano was allowed to join the U.S. Army. He took basic training and attended Camp Savage MIS Language School. He then served with the U.S. military in Australia and then in the Philippines.
5. Then the U.S. dropped atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, and one of C.H. Nagano's sisters died at Hiroshima.
6. Then, six months after the Japanese surrender, C.H. Nagano visited the lab of one of Japan's leading nuclear physicists on behalf of a U.S. Army officer (who was a physicist).
7. Then C.H. Nagano and the American officer were lied to about the existence of a nuclear weapons program.
How do I know his bio? In addition to that declassified SCAP report, I found his oral history! It's over three hours long. So I offered that "secret" SCAP document (that I obtained from NARA via the NDL), the oral history, and a blog on the subject I'll compose to the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars, even though I'm not one... yet.
All comments are welcome.
Here's my website: Bill Streifer - heavy water and the atomic bomb
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