Landmarks Board hears history of WWII Navy Japanese language school hosted in Boulder

Claire presented a researched history of the U.S. Navy Japanese language school hosted in Boulder during World War II, noting the program moved to the University of Colorado at Boulder in 1942 to provide accelerated Japanese-language instruction to Navy officers. The presentation traced the program’s origins, instructors (including Florence Wong and assistant Susumu Nakamura), and the recruitment of sensei from internment facilities to teach intensively. Claire explained that the school produced more than 1,100 navy officers fluent in Japanese by the time the Boulder program closed in late 1946.