‘Tokyo Rose’: The Pacific’s most infamous radio disc jockey

During Saipan’s warm tropical evenings in 1944 -’45, between 6 and 7:15 P.M., many of American servicemen and women in the Marianas and elsewhere in the Pacific would tune their Halicrafter’s short wave radio frequencies to pick up broadcasts from Radio Tokyo’s powerful transmitting station. The station played the latest American “big band” dance music as well airing news items from the United States. As some mail was lost when ships and planes when down, the troops listened to the broadcasts always aware the news might not be factual but the music kept them listening.

English language broadcasts were heard throughout Asia and the Pacific by Filipinos, Americans, English, Australians and new Zealand forces who were opposing the Japanese military and the goal of Radio Tokyo’s propaganda was to erode morale and attempt to convince our troops to surrender.

Shortly after war broke out Radio Tokyo taunted General MacArthur by broadcasting that he would soon be paraded through the streets of Japanese cities.

While there were several English speaking Japanese broadcasters, one in particular was 28-year-old Iva Ikuko Toguri born on Independence Day 1916 in Los Angles. She was the daughter of a Japanese immigrant who arrived in the United States in 1899, the same year the first American naval governor arrived on Guam and the German Governor appeared on Saipan. As a “nesei” (first generation American citizen of Japanese descent) she graduated from the University of California in 1940 with a degree in zoology. In June 1940 she decided to travel to Japan to visit a sick relative and to also study medicine. Being naive and inexperienced, she sailed from San Pedro, California on July 5th without a U.S. passport. Even though she planned to return to the United States, when war broke out in 1941 she was unable to return and accepted the fact that she would have to remain in Japan for the duration. She first got a job with the Domei News Agency as a typist and later in 1943 began her career as a broadcaster for Radio Tokyo. Her salary was reported at about 150 yen per Month—or the equivalent of about $7.

While Iva did not make her first broadcast until December 1943, months later, on June 14, 1944 the night before the American assault on Saipan, she was harassing the troops between recorded dance music with such comments as, “We’re ready for you.”

The G.I.’s could never figure out how the radio station got the latest American records to play and it’s still somewhat of a mystery. Between romantic songs like ”Speak To Me Of Love” and “In A Little Gypsy Tea Room” and others, “Tokyo Rose” or “Orphan Annie”, as the broadcaster sometimes referred to herself, would engaged in psychological warfare designed to lower the morale of the U.S. Armed Forces. Often the programs would begin by introducing the nightly “Zero Hour” with such harassing introductions as:

“Hello boneheads, this is your favorite playmate and enemy, Ann. How are all you orphans in the Pacific? Are you enjoying yourselves while your wives and sweethearts are running around with 4F’s in the States? How do you feel now when all your ships have been sunk by the Japanese Navy? How will you get home? Here’s another record to remind you of home.”

Discussions with several friends and acquaintances who recall listening to her broadcasts recounted an intriguing recollection of the period. More than one person who flew B-29’s from the Northern Marianas said they, and others, were amazed when they listened to her radio broadcasts which mentioned highly secret information as well as the names of newly arriving American B-29 crews on the island. He said, “Nobody could ever figure out how she obtained this information.”

Colonel John Misterly, lead navigator and member of the 58th Wing of B 29s, 444th Bomb Group first based in India who later flew missions from China against Japan was transferred to Tinian in April, 1945. He recalls: “her music was delightful and her manner laughable and down right funny at times when she told of us what awaited us at certain targets.

“I remember after about a year in India and China the 58th Bomb Wing was alerted for a major move. We knew we were heading for the Pacific and logic indicated that we would be going to the Mariana’s.

“But we couldn’t plan the trip until word was passed on to us. It was said that the information probably would not be given until we were airborne only telling us of the initial point in China. The air crews who had to plan and fly the trip were not told of our destination. As a lead navigator it was important to me to have the proper information so that flight planning could be accomplished.

“Sealed orders were the order of the day until “Tokyo Rose” informed us of our destination. She was correct and we all knew it and planned in accordance. As I recall she assured us that many of us wouldn’t get there and if we did we would perish fighting the Imperial troops of Japan. I guess she was right in a way. We made the big move without too much hassle, however her prediction that many would die came true.”

Even allied prisoners of the Japanese would listen to “Tokyo Rose” if they had access to a clandestine radio. Considered dubious at best, the information aired was the only English broadcast being received from the outside world.

U.S. naval vessels at sea also picked up the broadcasts. A friend assigned to the medical corps while aboard ship in July 1945 enroute to Okinawa in preparation for the invasion of Japan listened to Tokyo Rose broadcasts which were picked up and piped throughout the ship. He recalled her having a pleasant “girl next door” tone of voice but her message between popular music was designed to instill dread and anxiety among listeners.

Twenty-five year old Captain Ernest R. “Bart” Bartley was assigned to the 20th Air Force, 21st Bomber Command, 73rd Wing assigned to Saipan. He flew among the first B-29 missions over Tokyo and Nagoya and was later assigned to General Curtis LeMay’s staff. He recalls that “among the information “Tokyo Rose” would mention during the radio programs was the designation of squadrons and group arrivals and sometimes even the aircraft tail designations and crew names.”

Raymond “Hap” Halloran, a former Northern Marianas Army Air Force navigator aboard the B-29 “Rover Boys Express”, 73th Wing 499th Bomb Group, tail marking—“V” square 27 explained the purpose of the tail designations. The large, black letters on the tail of the B-29s that “Tokyo Rose” was said to have mentioned during some of her broadcasts “were used to assist B 29s of a specific group to readily identify other planes of their group and this facilitated aligning the planes into the desired bombing formation prior to penetrating the mainland of Japan. It also provided for more effectiveness and, in some cases, aided in survival.” “Hap” was shot down on January 27, 1945 and became a Japanese POW for the remainder of the war.

“Bart” Bartley recalls that when he joined Bomber Command he became aware that “military intelligence was investigating how this confidential information got into her hands. She even broadcast the arrival of the P-51 fighters on Iwo Jima after that island had been secured by U.S. forces. There were instances when a group of Japanese suicide attackers tore into the pilot’s tents and dropped hand grenades into them. The group knew exactly how and where to infiltrate American lines.”

After the war it was said that Lt. General Robert Eichelberger, MacArthur’s 8th Army Commander, met Iva in his office and it’s alleged that he thanked her for playing such nice music for the American service men and women and asked her if she ever received a package of the latest hit records that he had ordered dropped from a B-29 and addressed to “Tokyo Rose”. She is said to have replied that “she knew nothing about such records.” There is no indication that Iva ever used the name “Tokyo Rose.”

During the occupation on Japan Iva was arrested and confined in Tokyo’s Sugamo Prison but released in 1945. She was again arrested in 1948 and taken to San Francisco and charged by the FBI with the crime of treason for giving aid and comfort to the Imperial Government of Japan during World War II.

At age 33 in October, 1949 she became the seventh person in the history of the U.S. to be convicted of treason. She was sentenced to ten years imprisonment in the Federal Women’s Prison at Alderson, West Virginia and fined $10,000. During this period she successfully fought off government efforts to deport her. After having served almost seven years inmate #9380-W, Iva Ikuko Toguri was paroled in 1956.

Later there was some indication that several individuals who had been held as prisoners of war by the Japanese and who had also worked on the “Zero Hour” program had perjured themselves when they testified against Iva. Thus, any alleged culpability on her part as to committing treasonous acts was called into question since more that twenty different English speaking Japanese women served as the voice of either “Orphan Annie” or “Tokyo Rose” at one time or another.

Many thought Iva had been wrongly convicted and the case was reopened with the result that in November 1976 she received a pardon from President Gerald Ford on his last day in the White House. (William H. Stewart)