Pineau, Roger, 1916-

Capt. Roger Pineau (1916-1933) was born in Chicago, Illinois and graduated from the University of Michigan in 1942. He came to the University of Colorado at Boulder to receive training as a U.S. Naval agent in the Japanese Language School. The Japanese Language School was instituted at the University of Colorado in 1941 to train naval intelligence officers for the Pacific war effort. Shortly thereafter, Pineau was sworn in as Yeoman 2nd class U.S.N.R. on August 5, 1942; commissioned as Ensign U.S.N.R. on June 15, 1943; and graduated from the language school on July 10, 1943. During World War II, Pineau served as an intelligence officer in the Naval Communication Annex in Washington, D.C. Capt. Pineau became an interpreter and analyst with the U.S. Strategic Bombing Survey in Japan after the war and was assigned by the Office of Naval Intelligence to the Washington Document Center until 1947, when he was transferred to the Office of Naval History. In this capacity, he served until 1957 as assistant to Navy Rear Admiral and Harvard University historian, Samuel Eliot Morison, during which time he helped research and write the fifteen volume, History of U.S. Naval Operations in World War II. In 1950, Pineau retired from active duty but remained in inactive naval reserve. He graduated from George Washington University Law School in 1954. From 1957 to 1961, Pineau served in the State Department as Chief of Far East Current Intelligence. After working a year with the Institute for Defense Analyses in the early 1960s, he returned to the State Department as Social Science Officer for Cultural and Educational Affairs. In 1965, he joined the Smithsonian, and from 1966 to 1972 was managing editor of the Smithsonian Institution Press. He was recalled to active duty as Director of the Navy Memorial Museum in the Washington Navy Yard until his retirement in 1978. During his career, Pineau wrote, translated and edited numerous books and articles dealing with the Pacific campaigns and personalities of World War II. Of special interest was the book he wrote with retired Navy Rear Admiral Edwin T. Layton (Pacific Fleet Intelligence Officer) and British writer John Costello, And I Was There, Pearl Harbor and Midway - Breaking the Secrets. During the 1980s and 1990s, Pineau began gathering information to write a history of the teaching of Japanese in the U.S. Navy during the period 1921 to 1945. A significant part of this work was to recount the development of the Japanese Language School at the University of Colorado between the years 1941 to 1945. The historical project, however, remained unfinished by the time of his death on November 22, 1993.

From the description of Roger Pineau papers, 1921-1993. (Denver Public Library). WorldCat record id: 314188829

Captain, U.S. Navy Reserve.

From the description of Papers, 1945-1977. (Navy Department Library, Naval History & Heritage Command). WorldCat record id: 54525942

Roger Pineau, U.S. Naval officer, rose to the rank of Captain in the Reserves. He was a graduate of the University of Michigan in 1942 ad received an LLB from George Washington University Law School in 1954. He served in the U.S. Navy from 1942 to 1947 as an intelligence officer and Japanese linguist. He assisted RADM S.E. Morison in writing the multi-volume History of U.S. Naval Operations in World War II. He joined the Bureau of Cultural and Educational Affairs of the Department of State in 1957. He became editor of the Smithsonian Press in 1965 and continued in this position until 1972, when he became director of the Navy memorial Museum. He retired in 1978. Pineau wrote a number of books treating World War II, the Pacific campaigns thereof and the Japanese Navy, including And I Was There, Pearl Harbor and Midway, Breaking the Secrets.

From the description of Papers, 1860-1993. (Naval War College). WorldCat record id: 757517320

Roger Pineau (1916 or 1917-1993) was an American naval officer and historian, with an expertise in Japanese language and military affairs. Pineau attended the Japanese Language School at the University of Colorado and worked in Naval Intelligence during World War II. After the war he served as an interpreter and analyst with the U.S. Strategic Bombing Survey in Japan, and in 1947 was assigned to the Office of Naval History. During his ten years there he assisted in the research and writing of the 15-volume History of U.S. Naval Operations in World War II . In 1957 he joined the State Department where he held several posts, including Chief of Far East Current Intelligence and Social Science Officer for Cultural and Educational Affairs, and from 1965 to 1972, he worked at the Smithsonian as managing editor of the Smithsonian Institution Press.

Pineau was recalled to active duty in 1972 as Director of the Navy Memorial Museum in the Washington Navy Yard. Upon his retirement in 1978, Pineau embarked on an ambitious research and writing project to document the important contributions of the US Navy Japanese Language School. Although he did not live to publish his intended work, his substantial collection of research files formed the core of the the core of the US Navy Japanese/Oriental Language School Archival Project at the University of Colorado at Boulder.

Pineau wrote, co-authored or edited a number of books on Japanese military history, including Picture History of the Pacific War (1952), Midway, the Battle that Doomed Japan (1955), The Divine Wind: Japan's Kamikaze Force in World War II (1960), The End of the Imperial Japanese Navy (1962) and The Japan Expedition 1852-1855: The Personal Journal of Commodore Matthew C. Perry (1969).

From the guide to the Roger Pineau Manuscripts, 1962, (Special Collections Research Center, Syracuse University Libraries)