Sidney Mashbir

Early life Sidney Mashbir was born in Manhattan, New York, on 12 September 1891, but moved to Safford, Arizona, in 1899. Sidney's father was Professor Eliazar S. Mashbir, a Russian immigrant who was well-educated and became the first Russian-speaking attorney to practice law in New York City. Sidney's mother, Frieda Freudenthal was also well-educated, and in 1906 became the postmistress of Safford, which included the area of Solomonville.

Mashbir attended public schools in Safford and Tucson, later studying engineering at the University of Arizona for six months each year until 1911, whilst simultaneously maintaining a career as an engineering draughtsman, primarily for the engineering department of Tucson, and railroad companies.

Military career

Early service Mashbir joined the Arizona National Guard at a young age, and served as the bugler of Company B in 1904. Mashbir is also credited with investigations as a coast defense intelligence officer at Fort Hamilton, which uncovered the first German spy to be apprehended in the United States, Paul Otto Kuhn. Ranked captain, Mashbir was assigned as one of four US Army Language Officers in Japan on 7 July 1920. In July 1922, at Zacharias' request, Mashbir secretly worked day and night to produce a secret plan to gather intelligence that could either be used to maintain peace between the U.S. and Japan, or get information out of Japan in case of war. This plan became known as M-Plan, named after Mashbir. His undisclosed activities working for the naval attaché did not sit well with his superiors, however.

In order to establish a network of foreign businessmen in Japan who could be turned into an intelligence network in time of war, it was suggested by his commander, Colonel Burnett, that Mashbir resign his commission and become a businessman in Tokyo himself, in order to put the M-Plan in effect. Consequently, Mashbir resigned in 1923 to pursue business interests and undercover secret intelligence operations, under the impression that he could be reinstated in the Army when his work was done. He managed to rejoin the Military Intelligence Division G-2 Reserves, but only spent one year in active duty beginning in the summer of 1927 during which time he updated the Order of Battle documentation on Japan (War Plan Orange).

In 1937, Mashbir returned to Japan after an 11-year absence in a second attempt to launch the M-Plan on behalf of the Office of Naval Intelligence and his friend, naval attaché Zacharias. At that time, there was still hope that war between Japan and America might still be prevented. This mission aroused suspicions among ill-informed military attachés in Tokyo and an investigation was started into Mashbir. In a misunderstanding that would come close to damaging his career irreparably once more, Mashbir was investigated in Hawaii and, influenced by the military attaché suspicions, a prejudicial report based upon erroneous assumptions was delivered on 24 June 1937.

World War II and after Despite Mashbir's dismissal, the outbreak of hostilities in World War II between Japan and the US, led to him being immediately sought after by the Signal Corps due to his military experience, wide technical skill and knowledge of the Japanese language. He was sworn in for active duty on 24 January 1942 and sent to Brisbane, Australia, and later Manila, Philippines to co-ordinate the inter-service joint Australian/American Allied Translator and Interpreter Section (ATIS), within the Southwest Pacific Area (SWPA).

The prompt accomplishments of the Allied Translator and Interpreter Section and Mashbir's executive ability resulted in Mashbir being promoted to full colonel by General Douglas MacArthur after only one month. Mashbir then joined the forefront of MacArthur's intelligence activities and Japanese surrender negotiations, remaining the commandant of ATIS until December 1945. He was made famous at the time in the motion picture and still photograph of the preliminary surrender negotiations at Manila, as the man who pushed the ink-well, indicating that General Richard K. Sutherland should correct the Japanese Instrument of Surrender; and also as the man who thumbed the Japanese Lieutenant General Torashirō Kawabe along as he attempted to shake hands. The second incident provoked some mixed feelings, including sentiment that it could have damaged surrender talks. Mashbir also played a critical role retrieving and translating the Z Plan and in organizing the final surrender of Japan. In his autobiography, Mashbir explained that he was not permitted to shake hands, and that it would have been rude to point, which ultimately led to the awkward thumbing motion that was photographed.

Colonel Mashbir left Japan on 8 December 1945 to serve on the management staff of the adjutant general's office in Washington, later becoming the executive officer. He retired in October 1951, having reached the statutory age of 60.

Later life

Two years after retiring, Mashbir published a 374-page memoir describing his military and intelligence career titled: I Was an American Spy (Vantage Press. New York, 1953).

Because of the highly classified top-secret nature of ATIS missions, the work of many MIS soldiers and knowledge of Mashbir and his colleagues was unknown to the public during WWII, and even decades afterwards. The role and activities of the MIS was kept in secrecy for more than 30 years; the few records about its activities were finally made available to the public in 1972 under the Freedom of Information Act, however much still remains unknown today. Consequently, many MIS soldiers did not receive recognition or decorations for their efforts. They became "unsung heroes", unacknowledged for their contributions in wartime as well as postwar activities. An exception to this was the Military Intelligence Hall of Fame, of which Mashbir was inducted in 1988.

In 2017 in appreciation of Colonel Mashbir's contributions to America's military preparedness the University of Arizona and Syracuse University both nominated Colonel Mashbir as their choice for the National ROTC Hall of Fame. Candidates are chosen by ROTC programs from across the nation. Mashbir attended the University of Arizona and headed their student ROTC program. At Syracuse University, Colonel Mashbir served as an instructor teaching military science and launched that university's first Federally Accredited ROTC Program.

Sidney Mashbir died on 13 June 1973 and was buried at Fort Rosecrans National Cemetery, Point Loma, California.