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National Japanese American Historical Society
Building 640 Learning Center
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This is a modern re-creation of a vintage World War II U.S. Army makeshift classroom that was hastily assembled for the very first class of Japanese American soldiers who volunteered to be in the M.I.S. and work against the Japanese in the Pacific Theater as interpreters and interrogators.
In a room such as this, with salvaged movie theater seats and office furniture, the soldiers sat with their teachers studying Japanese during the day, and sleeping in the same building at night to preserve their secrecy. This initial M.I.S. class was the beginning of the present-day Defense Language Institute which is the largest organization of its kind in the world.
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