With a population that included a significant percentage of persons of Japanese ancestry, the state of Hawaii did not experience the mass incarcerations that Japanese Americans on the West Coast did following the bombing of Pearl Harbor. Only a small percentage of the islands’ Japanese Americans were sent to prison camps, and large numbers of the state’s Nisei volunteered for and served with distinction in the US Army.

The 2017 documentary film Proof of Loyalty tells the compelling story of one of those soldiers, Kazuo Yamane. Educated as a child in Hawaii and eventually graduating from Japan’s prestigious Waseda University, Yamane was drafted into the US Army just before the Pearl Harbor attack. With his strong Japanese language skills, he was plucked from the infantry ranks to serve first at the Pentagon, then at a secret facility in northern Maryland, and finally under Eisenhower in Europe. Most importantly, he would identify a secret document that would significantly help America’s war in the Pacific.

A Q&A with Lucy Ostrander, one of the two filmmakers behind the film, will follow the screening. Presented with Go For Broke National Education Center (GFBNEC). Free for JANM and GFBNEC members and included with admission to JANM or GFBNEC. RSVPs are recommended using the link below.

In the Tateuchi Democracy Forum