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Documentary Screening: Proof of Loyalty

Kazuo Yamane and the Nisei Soldiers of Hawaii

This documentary tells the story of a Japanese American who played a crucial strategic role in World War II.

Winner of the 2017 Asian American International Film Festival Audience Choice Award, Documentary, Proof of Loyalty: Kazuo Yamane and the Nisei Soldiers of Hawaii tells the story of a Japanese American who played a crucial strategic role in World War II. He and his fellow Nisei from Hawaii combatted prejudice and discrimination to loyally serve their country. Their extraordinary service, mostly untold, ultimately changed the course of U.S. history.

Kazuo Yamane’s father, Uichi, came to Hawaii in the late 19th century with nothing and built a business empire. His eldest son, Kazuo, first educated in the discriminatory school system in Hawaii, eventually graduated from Waseda University, the Harvard of Japan, and returned to Hawaii just before the Pearl Harbor attack. Drafted just before the war he became part of what would be the War Department’s most successful social experiment, taking Nisei troops from Hawaii and forming the 100th Infantry Battalion, a unit made up of a group entirely related to a country we were at war with. Their success was spectacular, but Kazuo was plucked from their ranks for his exceptional knowledge of Japanese, which would lead him to the Pentagon, to a secret facility in northern Maryland, and finally to serving under Eisenhower in Europe. Most importantly, he would identify a secret document which would help to shorten the war in the Pacific. NR (54 min.). 

This documentary film is offered through Kanopy, an online film stream service available to all Ocean County residents with a library card. 

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