Allied Translator and Interpreter Section

However, by August 1942, it became apparent to MacArthur that there was need for a greater unified allied intelligence unit, and he instructed that a new section be formed as a "centralized intelligence organization composed primarily of language personnel ... designed to systematize the exploitation of captured documents and the interrogation of prisoners of war", and oversee the collation and distribution of this information to Allied military forces in the South-West Pacific Area.

The Allied Translator and Interpreter Section was an inter-allied, inter-service organisation which began operation at the Advanced Land Headquarters in Indooroopilly, Brisbane, Australia.

[1][2] The Allied Translator and Interpreter Service originally consisted of 25 officers and 10 enlisted men, and grew rapidly along with the scope of its operations.

By September 1944, 767 personnel were assigned to ATIS and at its height of operations in 1945 almost 4000 men and women were employed, most of which were second generation Japanese Americans, known as Nisei.

The agency employed over 3,000 Nisei linguists who were responsible for translating the Z plan as well as over 350,000 captured Japanese documents equivalent to 20.5 million pages of text.

[4] "Although a number of testimonials by Nisei linguists show their pride in having proved their loyalty to the U.S., they also discuss their complex feelings about being sent to internment camps by the same government that later took advantage of their language skills in the war against the country of their parents.

On the morning of April 3, Filipino Pedro Gantuangoko, spotted an oil-covered box and discovered the red leather portfolio containing "Z" plan floating offshore.

The next day Cebu Area Command returned to the village and conducted interrogations in hopes of uncovering the missing box.