Daniel Akaka: “the World War II war against Japan has been described in John Dower's book ``War Without Mercy'' as the most savage…”

“the World War II war against Japan has been described in John Dower's book ``War Without Mercy'' as the most savage, bitterly fought racial war in history. Caught in between this epic struggle as innocent victims were the Nisei, American citizens of Japanese ancestry, who were neither accepted nor trusted by both America and Japan. The widespread question and doubt as to their loyalty to America extended to grave uncertainty of whether the Nisei would be willing to fight against an enemy of their same ancestry. This calls for the telling of the little-known story that there were over 6,000 Nisei who more than willingly and resolutely fought against the Japanese enemy during World War II as military intelligence linguists serving in the American and Allied forces. Briefly, this is that story. As the probability of war against Japan mounted in the summer of 1941, the U.S. War Department realized its deficiencies in the intelligence operations against Japan.”