Born and raised in Honokaa on the big island of Hawaii, Yoshikazu Yamada always wanted to attend college. Since childhood he loved to read--so much so that his mother's friends dubbed him "the professor." Knowing that his widowed mother could not afford college tuition, Yamada took the initiative to seek a matchmaker who would find a second husband for his mother so that he and his brothers could go to university. 
<br><br>In 1937, having earned his bachelor's degree in art from the University of Hawaii, Yamada left the islands for the University of Michigan to pursue an advanced degree in chemistry. He never forgot his first love for art, however, and continued to take art classes, even entering some of his paintings in an exhibit for young American artists at the Whitney Museum of Art in New York City.
<br><br>In April 1941, the U.S. Army drafted Yamada and trained him for service in the medical corps. Though his primary duty was as a medic, Yamada was constantly asked to translate radio messages and captured documents during situations in which he was the only member "who could make sense of the Japanese symbols." Ironically, while he kept busy translating the documents and messages in Japanese, the first Military Intelligence Service (MIS) class was attending school at the Presidio in San Francisco.
<br><br>After experiencing frontline action in the Philippines with the 5th Air Base Group, Yamada joined the newly created Allied Translator and Interpreter Section (ATIS) in Australia. As a member of ATIS, Yamada found himself in charge of deciphering the famous Z-Plan along with another Nisei linguist, George Kiyoshi Sankey. The two translated the 22-page document, which unveiled detailed explanations of the Japanese Navy's strategies and plans for attack in the Philippines and the Mariana Islands. It is believed that the translation of the Z-Plan led directly to the U.S. Navy's victory known as the "Great Marianas Turkey Shoot"--a major turning point in the war. It would be more than 50 years later that Yamada and Sankey would be awarded the Legion of Merit for their efforts.
<br><br>When the war ended, Yamada went to Japan to work with the Scientific and Technical Survey Mission to examine the status of Japanese science and technology in the postwar period. In 1945, he left the military and returned to the Midwest to continue his education. In 1950, he received a doctorate in inorganic chemistry from Purdue University. From graduation until retirement, Yamada worked in research and development first for Mergenthaler Linotype Corporation and then Bell and Howell. In retirement, he worked on inventions that combined his interest in science with his love for art.
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