MIS Language School

Events in the late 1930s in the Far East
and Pacific Basin increasingly signaled the
possibility of war. In response, the U.S.
Army established the 4th Army Intelligence
School at the Presidio of San Francisco in
November of 1941. The school trained
Nisei—Japanese Americans born to
parents who had come to the U.S. from
Japan—to act as translators in the war
against Japan. The army converted a
hanger at Crissy Field into classrooms and
a bunk house. The hangar looked nothing
like a traditional school; outsiders were
told it was a laundry. The students studied
in their make-shift classrooms, played
volleyball for recreation, and walked to
the nearby Bakers and Cooks School in
Building 220 three times a day for meals.
Looking out their window in late
December 1941, the 60 students could see
damaged ships returning after the Pearl
Harbor attack of December 7. The yearlong
training program was then shortened
to six months.
Soldiers trained