Second World War / Japanese Canadian Military Service / Service in Europe Before Pearl Harbor
Several Canadian nisei and one issei served as language instructors at the School of Oriental and African Studies in London, England. They had enlisted in provinces outside of British Columbia and were seconded by the Canadian Army to the school. Fumi Yamamoto had enlisted in Toronto in August 1940. Jitsuei Tsubota had fought at Vimy Ridge in the First World War and re-enlisted in Toronto at the same time as Yamamoto. Eichi Matsuyama had enlisted in Montreal in May 1941. Peter Shogi Yamauchi enlisted in Edmonton in October 1941. At the school, they trained British Army personnel, who were already highly educated, in the Japanese language (Ito, 1984, p. 159-160).
Jack Nakamoto, who had enlisted at Quebec City in June 1940, spent part of his service in Europe as a translator of Japanese.
Tony Kato, aged 41 at enlistment, was older than most of the nisei who served in the Second World War. He enlisted on July 26, 1941 at Victoria, BC. This news was very surprising, as nisei in BC were not being accepted as soldiers at that time. Kato himself had attempted for two years to enlist. He enlisted in the Forestry Corps, trained at Trois Rivieres, Quebec, and was deployed to Scotland in 1942 to harvest lumber needed for the war. His parents were interned at the time near New Denver, BC. Kato was sent to the S-20 school as an instructor, but had left before nisei arrived at the school. He was posted to the British Intelligence Corps as an interpreter and interrogator, serving in Burma, Malaya, and Thailand (Takahashi-Lai, undated). He was discharged in August 1946. His brother Kazuo Kato enlisted for Pacific Service in 1945 and attended the S-20 school (Ito, 1984, p. 126). Kazuo had been interned at the Petawawa and Angler P.O.W. camps previously (Okazaki, 1996).
