Tokyo Rose

“Tokyo Rose (Iva Toguri). Sept. 29, 1945”
(Photo taken by S/Sgt Charles Restifo.)

From S/Sgt Charles Restifo‘s Autobiography (page 69):

Routinely every morning on this and other islands there was a female voice broadĀ­casting to the G.I.’s,

Hello boys. This is Tokyo Rose. Did you have a good night’s sleep in all that rain? Does your breakfast taste like shit? They are going to be shittier every day.” She would continue, “Did you hear that plane flying overhead last night about six o’clock? We know you are repairing all your equipment. Tell General MacArthur he is supposed to be Commander of the Philippines after you win the war. After the first assault there will not be enough men or materials left to shove up your ass. It makes no sense to take a shower, you are soaking wet as soon as you are finished anyway.

Then she would put salt in the wound by saying, “I have here in my hand letters from the family of CorĀ­poral James, Army Signal Corps, and Corporal Paul Shitinsky.” Then the voice would read out the letters from the families. “You can read them yourselves in a few days. We will send them to you. One thing is for sure, those at home who sent the letters are having a better time than you are. So, ta ta. I will have more bits of news tomorrow.”

These broadcasts had a demoralizing effect on the men and we heard them almost daily. Later when I was in Japan I met Tokyo Rose and photographed her while she was under arrest by the U.S. Army. She was very quiet and had very little to say except that she was forced to make the broadcasts to save her life.

Credit: Charles Rosario Restifo Collection (AFC/2001/001/5849), Veterans History Project, American Folklife Center, Library of Congress.

Curator’s Note: About twenty different women voiced the Japanese propaganda show called “The Zero Hour.” None called themself Tokyo Rose. U.S. newspapers created the name to focus their stories. They made one Japanese-American woman, Iva Toguri, the face of Tokyo Rose. A more-balanced version of her story can be found at The National Archives