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]

Originally Posted by Torplexed

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]

Originally Posted by 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.

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.

[mako88sb]

Originally Posted by 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.

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.

[Torplexed]

Originally Posted by jimbuna

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.