Japan bombed Pearl Harbor in 1941.The United States was mad at the Japanese so they made many Japanese-Americans leave their homes.They were put in camps with barbed wire around the outside of the camps.
Many Japanese-American young men were called into the army.Some of them joined the US Military Intelligence Service or MIS.The MIS was a secret group that fought the Japanese soldiers.This secret group translated important maps and papers.They questioned Japanese prisoners.Another task they did was to translate diaries written in Japanese.
Sometimes Japanese soldiers hid in caves to hide from the Americans.The MIS would try to get the scared soldiers to leave the caves.This was known as "cave flushing." Some of the soldiers would give up and leave the caves.
Other Japanese would jump to their deaths.
The MIS never got awards for their efforts until the year 2000.Then they were rewarded for their brave acts in World War II.It took almost sixty years for them to be honored.
Gayle Yamada has made a film about the brave Japanese-American MIS.The film is called "Uncommon Courage" and is a true story.Hopefully, Yamada's film and the movie, "Pearl Harbor," will not cause people to hate Japanese-Americans or any other race.