Military Intelligence Service Language School (U.S.)

On the eve of World War II, the U.S. Army established a secret school at Crissy Field, Presidio of San Francisco, to teach the Japanese language. Classes began November 1, 1941, with four instructors and 60 students in an abandoned airplane hangar at Crissy Field. The students were mostly second generation Japanese-Americans (Nisei) from the West Coast. During the war, the Military Intelligence Service Language School (MISLS), as it came to be called, grew dramatically. When Japanese-Americans on the West Coast were moved into internment camps in 1942, the school moved to temporary quarters at Camp Savage, Minnesota. By 1944, the school had outgrown these facilities and moved to nearby Fort Snelling. More than 6,000 graduates served throughout the Pacific Theater during the war and the subsequent occupation of Japan. In 1946, the school moved to the historic Presidio of Monterey.

From the description of Military Intelligence Service Language School collection, 1943-1945. (US Army, Mil Hist Institute). WorldCat record id: 53807054