Join The National WWII Museum for a conversation with author Leon Carroll Jr. on his best-selling book Ghosts of Honolulu: A Japanese Spy, a Japanese American Spy Hunter, and the Untold Story of Pearl Harbor, co-authored with actor Mark Harmon. Ghosts of Honolulu depicts the incredible high-stakes game of naval intelligence in the leadup to World War II. This prerecorded webinar will premiere at 9:00 a.m. CT on May 1.

For additional information, please email Connie Gentry, Conference and Programs Specialist, at connie.gentry@nationalww2museum.org.

About Ghosts of Honolulu

Hawaii, 1941. War clouds with Japan are gathering and the islands of Hawaii have become battlegrounds of spies, intelligence agents, and military officials—with the island's residents caught between them. Toiling in the shadows are Douglas Wada, the only Japanese American agent in naval intelligence, and Takeo Yoshikawa, a Japanese spy sent to Pearl Harbor to gather information on the US fleet.

Wada's experiences in his native Honolulu include posing undercover as a newspaper reporter, translating wiretaps on the Japanese Consulate, and interrogating America's first captured prisoner of World War II, a submarine officer found on the beach. Yoshikawa is a Japanese spy operating as a junior diplomat with the consulate who is collecting vital information that goes straight to Admiral Yamamoto. Their dueling stories anchor Ghosts of Honolulu's gripping depiction of the world-changing cat-and-mouse games played between Japanese and US military intelligence agents (and a mercenary Nazi) in Hawaii before the outbreak of war.

Also caught in the upheaval are Honolulu's innocent residents—including Wada's father—who endure the war's anti-Japanese fervor and a cadre of intelligence professionals who must prevent Hawaii from adopting the same destructive mass internments as California.

About the Author

Leon Carroll Jr. is the technical adviser on the hit drama NCIS. A native of Chicago, Illinois, he attended Lindblom Technical High School and went on to earn a BS in business economics from North Dakota State University. He was a member of two College Division national championship teams in the late 1960s. Carroll was a commissioned officer in the United States Marine Corps, serving on active duty for six years and in the Marine Corps Reserves for three, attaining the rank of Major. His duty assignments included serving in the Fleet Marine Forces and Sea Duty onboard the USS Ogden (LPD-5). Following his stint in the Marines, Carroll began a 20-year career as a Special Agent with the Naval Criminal Investigative Service (NCIS). He served in seven different locations, including tours as a Special Agent Afloat on the USS Ranger (CV-61) and as the Special Agent in Charge of NCIS offices in the Republic of Panama and the Pacific Northwest. Upon retirement from NCIS, Carroll was selected to be the technical adviser for the top-rated drama of the same name, holding that position for 20 seasons. His experience in foreign counterintelligence gives him unique insight into the world in which undercover agents operate.