PERSONAL FOCUS:
ROY MATSUMOTO - Military Intelligence Service
Roy
Matsumoto found himself in Burma fighting for his life. How does
a young man from Los Angeles end up half way around the world
during World War II?
It was 1944 and the United States had been engaged in a two-front
war since 1941. In Europe, the United States was fighting Italy
and Germany; in the Pacific, Japan was the enemy. Roy Matsumoto,
a Japanese American, volunteered for the Army despite being incarcerated
by his own government. His decision to join was an emotional one.
Born and educated in Los Angeles, Roy was sent to Japan by his
parents when he reached middle school age. Roy’s parents
felt it was important for Roy to speak Japanese and to learn about
the Japanese culture. He lived with his mother's parents for three
years while he went to school in Japan and then returned home.
When war broke out, Japanese Americans living on the West Coast
were removed from their homes and imprisoned in camps by their
own government. Roy was among those affected.
Despite this fact, Roy enlisted in the U.S. Army. When the Army
discovered he was a Kibei (Japanese American educated in Japan
with knowledge of the Japanese language and culture), it sent
him to the Military Intelligence Service Language School (MISLS).
The job of the MIS was to gather information about the enemy by
translating documents, intercepting radio messages and interrogating
captured prisoners.
When Roy graduated the MISLS, he volunteered for the 5307th Composite
Unit, Provisional (an all-volunteer ranger unit consisting of
three combat battalions with two combat teams to each battalion,
totaling approximately 3,000 soldiers). The unit was known popularly
as "Merrill's Marauders," named after its commander,
Brigadier General Frank D. Merrill. Roy was one of 14 MIS soldiers
who volunteered for what was advertised as a "hazardous mission."
The Marauders were to operate behind Japanese lines. Their mission
was to reopen the Burma Road, the overland lifeline linking India
and China through Northern Burma. The problem: Japanese forces
occupied Northern Burma in 1942.
Before the war, General Merrill had been a military attaché
in Japan. He understood the importance of obtaining reliable and
timely intelligence information. He impressed upon his staff and
his soldiers the importance of the MIS soldiers and wanted to
assure their safety. General Merrill placed Roy and the other
MIS translators on a stage in front of all 3,000 Marauders and
had them "Left Face, Right Face, About Face." The general
ordered his men to memorize how they looked and spoke so they
would not be mistaken for the enemy.
Roy remembered, "I was assigned to the 2nd Battalion of
Merrill's Marauders in the Northern Burma campaign. Setting out
from Ledo, Assam, in Northeastern India (February 1944), the Marauders
marched southward on foot through Burmese jungles and river crossings
covering several hundred miles to capture the key city of Myitkyina
in August." Myitkyina had an all-weather airstrip; its capture
would allow Allied supplies to be flown into China, a key American
ally.
Roy’s experience demonstrates the importance of language
skills to the U.S. military. He recalled, "As we came out
of the jungle and reached the Kamaing Road, we discovered the
[Japanese] telephone lines running from headquarters to the front
along the road. I climbed a tree and tapped into the line and
while eavesdropping, learned about the location of an enemy ammunition
dump susceptible to attack. Our company commander contacted our
air support and air attacks destroyed the dump. I was up on the
tree most of the time from morning to evening, and I did not even
have time to dig my own foxhole. But I was able to obtain much
valuable intelligence, especially orders regarding enemy troop
movements revealing superior enemy forces attempting to break
the Walawbum road block on the Kamaing Road. We were therefore
able to avoid and bypass these forces while continuing our advance
without loss."
Knowledge of dialects and Roy’s bravery proved invaluable
on many occasions. The Japanese soldiers spoke the Kyushu dialect
that the other linguists in the unit did not know well. To get
these critical pieces of information, he suspended himself in
a tree for most of the day and late into the evening of March
5, 1944, continuously exposing himself to enemy sniper fire. His
only protection was to move to the other side of the tree. Staff
Sergeant Matsumoto was personally awarded the Legion of Merit
from General Merrill for his exceptional service from February
24 to March 11, 1944.
One month later, Roy distinguished himself again in a fierce
battle fought at Nhpum Ga, Burma. Occupying a hill, his unit,
the 2nd Battalion, found themselves completely surrounded and
cut off by Japanese forces. Food, ammunition, and water had to
be delivered by airdrop. After a two-week siege, casualties approached
40 percent. The situation was desperate and strong Japanese opposition
prevented a rescue. In fact the enemy was so close, Roy’s
unit could hear the Japanese soldiers.
On the evening of April 6, 1944, Roy volunteered to sneak into
enemy area risking capture and certain death. Armed with only
two hand grenades, under cover of total darkness, he slithered
down the hill as quietly as possible. He got close enough to hear
them discussing plans to attack early the next morning. Luckily
Roy was also familiar with the Fukuoka dialect that was being
spoken. Within 30 minutes, he crawled back to his unit and reported
this important information. Warned in time, his unit was able
to prepare for the enemy's "surprise" attack. They booby-trapped
their original foxholes and dug-in at new nearby positions. Matsumoto
recalled, "As expected, the enemy made an all-out assault
up the hill at dawn. We held our fire until the enemy charged
into the line of foxholes. We then opened with some 50 automatic
weapons."
As the attack continued, Roy stood up in the midst of the Japanese
assault and fully exposed himself calling out to the Japanese
as if he were a Japanese officer and ordered them to an all-out
Banzai attack on their position. Thinking it was their own officer's
orders, the Japanese soldiers charged into the Marauder's steady
fire, suffering unusually high casualties. After the battle, 54
dead Japanese soldiers, including two officers, were counted.
Because of Roy’s actions the Marauders suffered no combat
casualties and won the battle. He saved numerous American lives.
To this day many men of his unit have said, "We owe our lives
to Sgt. Matsumoto."
During the war tropical diseases were just as deadly as the enemy
soldiers. Dysentery, typhus, malaria and other diseases resulted
in high casualties. Though hospitalized briefly with a tropical
disease, Roy completed his tour with the Marauders. The Merrill's
Marauders continued to fight behind Japanese lines until August
1944, when it finally captured Myitkyina. It took seven months,
from February to August 1944, covering more than 700 miles through
dense jungles behind enemy lines. Roy was in the last group of
17 men that left Myitkyina when the unit was disbanded in late
August 1944.
In
his next assignment with the 475th Infantry Regiment, Roy was
again operating behind enemy lines in China near the French-Indochina
border. He was involved in the demolition of bridges, disruption
of enemy communications and capturing prisoners. Roy went on to
spend 21 years in the Military Intelligence Service.
In 1993, Roy became the first minority veteran to be inducted
into the Ranger Hall of Fame. In 1997, Master Sergeant Roy Matsumoto
was inducted into the Military Intelligence Corp Hall of Fame.
The MIS and its exploits were classified for many years and its
critical role in the Pacific was not recognized until 2000. In
2000, the MIS received its own Presidential Unit Citation for
gallantry in action.
ACTIVITIES
Framework Standards Context
California Standards
Grade 11
11.7 Students analyze the American participation in World War
II.
