The Wavy Navy in the United States

In 1943 five junior officers in the Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve made their way to Boulder, Colorado, to join a course at the US Navy Japanese Language School. The US Navy had turned its attention to Japanese language training before the outbreak of war, largely thanks to the efforts of two intelligence officers who had grown up in Japan. While the US Army began training Japanese Americans, the US Navy Japanese Language School did not accept Japanese Americans as students but did use them as teachers. Most of the five RNVR officers already had extensive naval experience, including combat on the high seas, but they finished their 18-month course too late to be able to play much of a part in the war, unlike their American fellow students, who saw action in the Pacific.