Sidney Forrester Mashbir | |
|---|---|
 Colonel Sidney F. Mashbir, 1951 | |
| Nickname(s) | Sid |
| Born | 12 September 1891 Manhattan, New York |
| Died | 13 June 1973 (aged 81) |
| Buried | Fort Rosecrans National Cemetery, Point Loma, California |
| Allegiance |  United States of America |
| Service/ |  United States Army |
| Years of service | 1904–1939; 1942–1951 |
| Rank |  Colonel |
| Service number | O-191029[1] |
| Unit | Allied Translator and Interpreter Section (ATIS), Military Intelligence Service |
| Battles/wars | Border War World War II |
| Awards | Army Distinguished Service Medal Army Commendation Medal (6) |
| Other work | Executive officer for the Army Adjutant General's Office in Washington |
Sidney Forrester Mashbir (12 September 1891 – 13 June 1973)[2] was a senior officer in the United States Army who was primarily involved in military intelligence. Born in New York, he served in the Arizona Army National Guard during the Mexican-American Border War. Mashbir then held several posts in intelligence positions, taking credit for catching the first German spy in the United States, before departing for on a four-year assignment as a language officer to Japan in 1920. He resigned from the army in 1923 in an attempt to execute his own master plan devised to extract intelligence from Japan in event of a war. His plan failed as a result of the Great Kantō earthquake in September 1923 and he was left bankrupt; he consequently returned to the US as an engineering businessman.
In 1937, Mashbir returned to Japan in a second attempt to activate his plan on behalf of the Office of Naval Intelligence; it again failed, and Mashbir was dis-enrolled from the reserves in 1939. However, following the attack on Pearl Harbor, Mashbir was re-enrolled in January 1942 to lead the Allied Translator and Interpreter Section of Southwest Pacific Area, where he quickly rose to the rank of colonel. He later served as the executive officer for the Army Adjutant General's Office before retiring in 1951.[3]
- ^ Cite error: The named reference
warRecordwas invoked but never defined (see the help page). - ^ "Fort Rosecrans National Cemetery. Point Loma, San Diego County, CA – Records". 2006. Retrieved 20 October 2010.
- ^ Finley, James (1999). "Sidney F. Mashbir: Some Lessons in Joint Intelligence Work" (PDF). Fort Huachuca: US Army Intelligence Center. pp. 1–8. Archived from the original (PDF) on 22 July 2011. Retrieved 20 October 2010.