Carr, Denzel, June 5-6, 1981

Denzel Carr (December 26,1900- October 4, 1983), a polyglot and well-known linguist, was born near West Liberty, Kentucky. He completed his undergradutate studies at the University of Oklahoma, a Master of Philosophy at the University of Krakow, and a PhD in Linguistics from Yale University in 1937. From April 1924 until March 1929, he taught English at a higher boy's school in Kyoto. In August 1933, he began teaching French and Spanish (and later Russian and Japanese) at the University of Hawaii. He lived in Hawaii from 1933 until 1948 and was there during his naval service. He served as an advisor to the District Intelligence Officer for the Fourteenth Naval District, where he advised that Nisei should be sent to the European theatre rather than the Pacific during World War II. From 1945 to 1948, Carr worked as Chief of the Language Division in the International Prosecution Section for the Tokyo War Crimes Trials. He was sent in 1950 to serve as Officer in Charge of the Language Division at the U.S. Naval School. In 1948, he began teaching at University of California, Berkeley in the Department of Oriental Languages, where he remained an important influence for many years. In 1955, he was awarded a fellowship to complete study in Indonesia. He passed away in 1983.