Tokyo Rose broadcasts?

[mako88sb]

I'm reading "Bringing the Thunder" by Gordon Bennett Robertson about his 35 missions in command of a B-29. Great book so far but I was pretty surprised , much like him, about how on the day he arrived at Guam, Tokyo Rose mentioned all the Pilot's names including him during her nightly broadcast. I realize of course, that there was no such person as Tokyo Rose, but was the traitor that was providing such info to the Japanese ever caught? I did a quick Google but not much luck.

[Platapus]

Do some research on Iva Ikuko Toguri D'Aquino

[Torplexed]

Tokyo Rose was actually several Japanese-American women, who broadcast often surprisingly shrewd guesses of Allied dispositions and intentions as a way to break the morale of Allied troops. However, these broadcasts rarely had much effect on Allied morale, particularly since "Tokyo Rose" occasionally was wildly wrong.

In 1949, Iva Toguri, who was foolish enough to confess to a reporter to being one of the Roses, was convicted of one count of treason for broadcasting as Tokyo Rose. She was imprisoned for six years and fined $10,000. An American citizen who had been awarded a degree in geology by the University of California, she was visiting in Japan without a valid U.S. passport at the outbreak of war. She refused to renounce her U.S. citizenship but was subsequently pressured into making (fairly innocuous) broadcasts for the Japanese. In the 1970s, investigative journalists uncovered serious irregularities in her treason trial, and she received a presidential pardon. Incidentally, most of the broadcast material for the Roses was written by a captured American officer who was never prosecuted.

[Jimbuna]

Incidentally, most of the broadcast material for the Roses was written by a captured American officer who was never prosecuted.

Any details on who that was?

[Sailor Steve]

But the original question is still unanswered: Where did the detailed information come from? A captured American officer has no more access to unit movements than Rose herself. Someone was sending them the information.

[Torplexed]

Any details on who that was?

According to John Toland's book, The Rising Sun Iva supported herself in Japan as a typist with the Japanese Broadcasting Corporation. At the behest of an American Army captain--an ex-radio commentator who had been 'persuaded' to return to his old trade for the Japanese--she agreed to make 15 minute daily broadcasts to Allied soldiers. In her capacity as disk jockey she met and became friends with other American POW's who were also broadcasting propaganda for the Japanese. (They were subsequently pardoned after the war because they had been forced to do it under "immediate threat of death or bodily harm.")

During her trial Iva's lawyers put the blame on the Army captain who had taught her the broadcasting business. They were informed that the captain was not under the jurisdiction of the court at which point the jury refused to charge her. When the prosecution assured the jury that the captain would also be brought to justice, Iva was indicted.

The captain was never tried. He was later promoted to major. Unfortunately, Toland doesn't give a name.

[Torplexed]

But the original question is still unanswered: Where did the detailed information come from? A captured American officer has no more access to unit movements than Rose herself. Someone was sending them the information.

Whoever he was he should have been sending his information to Imperial GHQ. Japanese intelligence during the war was notoriously bad. It was often a backwater for officers who's careers were going nowhere.

[Sailor Steve]

Hmm. Hadn't thought of that. It's funny when civilians know things about the military that the military doesn't know itself, but it's also true here. A saying that was old even when I was in was that if you wanted to know when a ship was due in, just ask the local bartender.

[Highbury]

I may be wrong here but I thought it was an Australian, Maj. Charles Cousens that wrote her scripts, not an American Captain.

Soon after the capitulation on 15 February, A.I.F. headquarters in Malaya inadvertently revealed to the Japanese that Cousens had been a radio announcer. He refused to broadcast on their behalf while in Changi prison. Taken alone from a prison-camp in Burma, he was shipped at the end of July to Japan. There, under threat and fear of torture and death (as he would always claim), he wrote propaganda scripts, 'coached' English-speaking Japanese announcers and made short-wave broadcasts over Radio Tokyo. He maintained that the broadcasts were of minimal use to the Japanese, and that he had frequently sabotaged them by subtle ridicule and by inserting information useful to the Allies. Cousens also worked on a propaganda programme, 'Zero Hour', and chose as its main presenter an American woman of Japanese parentage—Iva Toguri (later d'Aquino), the misnamed 'Tokyo Rose'—who tried to help him undermine the broadcasts.

SOURCE (http://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/cousens-charles-hughes-9842)

[mako88sb]

But the original question is still unanswered: Where did the detailed information come from? A captured American officer has no more access to unit movements than Rose herself. Someone was sending them the information.

I suppose it's possible/likely that some subterfuge was involved here. Having someone seemingly sympathetic to the Japanese passing on relatively harmless info so that they can eventually pass on some juicy but misleading plans to help confuse the enemy.

[Jimbuna]

According to John Toland's book, The Rising Sun Iva supported herself in Japan as a typist with the Japanese Broadcasting Corporation. At the behest of an American Army captain--an ex-radio commentator who had been 'persuaded' to return to his old trade for the Japanese--she agreed to make 15 minute daily broadcasts to Allied soldiers. In her capacity as disk jockey she met and became friends with other American POW's who were also broadcasting propaganda for the Japanese. (They were subsequently pardoned after the war because they had been forced to do it under "immediate threat of death or bodily harm.")

During her trial Iva's lawyers put the blame on the Army captain who had taught her the broadcasting business. They were informed that the captain was not under the jurisdiction of the court at which point the jury refused to charge her. When the prosecution assured the jury that the captain would also be brought to justice, Iva was indicted.

The captain was never tried. He was later promoted to major. Unfortunately, Toland doesn't give a name.

I may be wrong here but I thought it was an Australian, Maj. Charles Cousens that wrote her scripts, not an American Captain.

Soon after the capitulation on 15 February, A.I.F. headquarters in Malaya inadvertently revealed to the Japanese that Cousens had been a radio announcer. He refused to broadcast on their behalf while in Changi prison. Taken alone from a prison-camp in Burma, he was shipped at the end of July to Japan. There, under threat and fear of torture and death (as he would always claim), he wrote propaganda scripts, 'coached' English-speaking Japanese announcers and made short-wave broadcasts over Radio Tokyo. He maintained that the broadcasts were of minimal use to the Japanese, and that he had frequently sabotaged them by subtle ridicule and by inserting information useful to the Allies. Cousens also worked on a propaganda programme, 'Zero Hour', and chose as its main presenter an American woman of Japanese parentage—Iva Toguri (later d'Aquino), the misnamed 'Tokyo Rose'—who tried to help him undermine the broadcasts.

SOURCE (http://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/cousens-charles-hughes-9842)

Thanks guys....it's all relatively new to me :up:

[Sailor Steve]

I suppose it's possible/likely that some subterfuge was involved here. Having someone seemingly sympathetic to the Japanese passing on relatively harmless info so that they can eventually pass on some juicy but misleading plans to help confuse the enemy.
Now that's something I've never considered. The more I think about it the more it makes sense. On the other hand you would think that after all this time such a good plan would have seen the light of day. So I still have the question of where the information came from, no matter whether it was spy or counter-spy.

[mako88sb]

Now that's something I've never considered. The more I think about it the more it makes sense. On the other hand you would think that after all this time such a good plan would have seen the light of day. So I still have the question of where the information came from, no matter whether it was spy or counter-spy.


My guess is that whatever miss-direction may have actually happened or been planned probably had to do with invasion plans for Japan. Seeing as it never happened, the US never felt the need to make much of it.

[Sailor Steve]

I don' care! I still want's to know! :stare:

[vienna]

I don' care! I still want's to know! :stare:

Such a fierce glower!... :haha:

Maybe this is a clue...

http://www.straightdope.com/columns/read/1705/how-did-wwii-propaganda-broadcaster-tokyo-rose-get-info-on-allied-ship-movements

[Torplexed]

Such a fierce glower!... :haha:

Maybe this is a clue...

http://www.straightdope.com/columns/read/1705/how-did-wwii-propaganda-broadcaster-tokyo-rose-get-info-on-allied-ship-movements

An excellent article vienna. I think it's safe to say the story of "Tokyo Rose" was one that grew in the telling, even though neither Iva nor anyone else ever broadcast for the Japanese under that name. She had in fact never even sat in front of a radio microphone until the fall of 1943, years after the myth of a single "Tokyo Rose" arose from the imaginations of numerous Allied soldiers in the Pacific who tried to put a face on the many female voices coming from numerous Japanese controlled radio stations.

Of her own broadcasts, during which she actually used the name "Orphan Ann", all that remains are a smattering of scripts, and a precious few recordings that can barely be accounted for on two hands.

[Sailor Steve]

Yes it is an excellent article, and thanks Vienna for the link. Unfortunately I still have the question from the original post, that of Mr. Robertson's memory of "Rose" mentioning all the pilots' names the same day they arrived at Guam. Common knowledge? Leaked information? Faulty memory?

All are possibilities, or none. I'd love to know, and almost certainly never will. :sunny:

[vienna]

Came across this...

The "Orphan Ann" Homepage:

http://www.dyarstraights.com/orphan_ann/orphanan.html


Some interesting reading...


EDIT:

Also found this...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wfthhdvbSDw

[Jimbuna]

Cool links :up: