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Armed with Language (film)

Documentary film on the Military Intelligence Service Language School at Camp Savage and Fort Snelling, Minnesota, and about Nisei in the MIS in general. Written and narrated by writer and poet David Mura, Armed with Language , begins with the forced removal and incarceration of West Coast Japanese Americans and the dilemma of the men who volunteered for the MIS despite their or their families' incarceration. The film uses interviews with MIS veterans and their families along with military historians to tell the story of the language school and of the MIS soldiers in the Pacific, highlighting stories of Merrill's Marauders, Nisei women in the MIS, and Nisei in the occupation of Japan. There is also a brief segment on resettlement and the growth of the Japanese American community in the Twin Cities as well as on the Redress movement and relevance of the story today.

Armed with Language was produced by Twin Cities PBS as Season 3, Episode 15 of its "Minnesota Experience" series and first aired locally on May 17, 2021.

Authored by Brian Niiya , Densho

Might also like MIS: Human Secret Weapon (2012); The Color of Honor: The Japanese American Soldier in WWII (1987); A Tradition of Honor (2002)

Footnotes

Media Details
Release Date 2021
Runtime 58 minutes
Director Katie O'Rourke
Producer Katie O'Rourke
Writer David Mura
Narrator David Mura
Starring Edwin "Bud" Nakasone (interviewee), Toshi Uesato (interviewee), Dave Kenney (interviewee), Krista Finstad Hanson (interviewee), James McNaughton (interviewee), Karen Tanaka Lucas (interviewee), Kimmy Tanaka (interviewee), Bill Doi (interviewee), Roy Matsumoto (interviewee), Peggy Doi (interviewee), S. Sally Sudo (interviewee), Toshio G. Tsukahira (interviewee), Hiromi Mizuno (interviewee), Todd Adler (interviewee), Anna Hashizume (Terry Tayome Nakanishi)
Cinematography Jim Kron
Editing Nathan Reopelle
Studio TPT, Twin Cities PBS