Gender

Male

Birth date

1916-12-08

Place of birth

HI, USA

Inducted

1941-11-14, Schofield Barracks, Oahu HI

Enlistment type

Draftee

Service branch

Army

Service type

War

Unit type

Support

Units served

298th Infantry MISLS Sec 1 (Graduated Savage, Dec. 1942) 442nd Regimental Combat Team, 100th Battalion, Company D PACMIRS

Military specialty

Coombat Infantry Soldier Military Intelligence Infantryman

Stationed

USA: Camp McCoy, WICamp Savage, MN

Unit responsibility

Military intelligence. Infantry

Personal responsibility

Infantryman

Awards, medals, citations (individual or unit)

Legion of Merit

Additional information

Residence: Honolulu, Oahu, HI. After graduating from McKinley High School, he spent the next 5 years studying at Waseda University in Japan. He returned to Hawaii in 1940 and entered the University of Hawaii to study business. He was drafted into military service on 11-14-1941,, becoming the first of four Yamane brothers who served their country in WW II. He guarded the shores of Oahu for the next five months as part of the 298th Infantry until late May 1942, when all Nisei were assembled and mustered into the Hawaii Provisional Battalion and shipped off to mainland US on 6-5-1942 to form the 100th Infantry Battalion (separate). At Camp McCoy, WI, he was assigned to Company D and trained as a combat infantry soldier for the next 6 months. By late 1942 the US Army faced a dire need for soldiers proficient in the Japanese language to undergo training at the Military Intelligence Service Language School and sent recruiters to Camp McCoy to screen the 100th Battalion for potential linguists. Yamane was one of eventual 58 men selected for specialized training and was sent to Camp Savage MISLS, MN in Dec. 1942. Being the first group of Hawaii Nisei to be selected for MIS training, they were called the "sempai gumi" or pioneer class of Nisei to attend Camp Savage. Included in this group were Yukitaka Terry Mizutari, one of nine Nisei KIA and Hoichi Kubo awarded the DSC for his heroism in the Battle for Saipan, the highest honor awarded to any Nisei MIS during WW II. With his Japanese language proficiency, he was graduated within the minimum 6 months schedule in June 1943. He was one of four Nisei MIS graduates to be sent by secret order to the Pentagon and assigned to the Pacific Order of Battle, Military Intelligence G-2, War Department, the first Nisei to be cleared for work inside the Pentagon. One of his special assignments was to be sent with an interrogation team to the POW compound at Camp McCoy to interpret the interrogation of POW Ensign Kazuo Sakamaki, midget submarine commander who was captured at Wainamalo Beach on Dec. 8, 1941 by men of the 298th Infantry. Yamane's team was then assigned to Camp Ritchie, MD (now presidential retreat Camp David) to organize the Pacific Military Intelligence Research Section (PACMIRS)with the primary function to review captured Japanese military documents. His most memorable assignment was to review boxes of Japanese records and papers captured by the Navy in the battle of Saipan which boxes were marked "no military value." While so engaged he came across a heavy book which he translated to be "Japan Imperial Army Ordnance Manual", which contained a secret inventory listing and describing every military weapon and ammunition of the Japanese military, storage location and factory of manufacture, a discovery of tremendous significance and value. Every Nisei linguist at Camp Ritchie was then confined to base and assigned to translate the entire document. Soon thereafter the US Air Force sent its B-29 bombers over Japan bombing and destroying new bombing targets revealed by Yamane's discovery which inflicted crippling damage on Japan's war capacity and hastened the time of it ultimate defeat. He was awarded a well earned and deserved Legion Of Merit for the inestimable value of Yamane's feat. After the war he was engaged in a business career which spanned over 60 years serving as Chairman and CEO of the family business, U. Yamane, Limited, which owned and operated businesses such as Kalihi Shopping Center, Pearl City Shopping Center, Kalihi Bowl, Windward Bowl and Leeward Bowl and other property management operations. This person has quite an interesting history in Military Intelligence.