Toyome "Terry" Nakanishi
Women’s Army Corps (WAC), World War II

Toyome "Terry" Nakanishi
Women’s Army Corps (WAC), World War II

Following the December 7, 1941, Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, the U.S. government, because of a perceived national security risk, rounded up 120,000 American citizens of Japanese descent and sent them to Mid-West and West Coast internment camps. These citizens saw their property confiscated and neighbors they had known for years turn against them. Despite federal and local treatment of Japanese Americans during World War II, many of this targeted group chose to enlist in the U.S. Armed Forces to help defeat the Axis. After witnessing her brother’s 1944 enlistment in the 442nd Regimental Combat Team, Toyome “Terry” Nakanishi decided in 1945 to join the Women’s Army Corps (WAC). She attended the Military Intelligence Service Language School at Fort Snelling, Minnesota. After the war, Nakanishi was one of 13 WACs sent to occupied Japan and assigned to G2 Intelligence in General Douglas MacArthur’s headquarters. Some of her duties included providing translation and administrative support for the war crimes trials.