Harold Fudenna entered the U.S. Army in March 1941 and attended the Military Intelligence Service Language School (MISLS) in June of the following year. He graduated near the top of his MISLS class and subsequently was assigned to the 5th Air Force's Air Technical Intelligence Team and the 1st Radio Squadron, 138th Signal Corps. 
<br><br>Fudenna contributed to one of the most significant events during the war--the death of Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto, commander in chief of Japan's Combined Fleet and architect of the attack on Pearl Harbor. Gen. Douglas MacArthur often referred to this event as one of the most significant actions of the war in the Pacific. In April 1943, American monitors at FRUPAC (Fleet Radio Unit, Pacific), FRUMEL (Fleet Radio Unit, Melbourne), and NEGAT (a U.S. Navy radio intercept station) intercepted a radio message that gave details of Admiral Yamamoto's plan to arrive in Bougainville. At the same time, Port Moresby intercepted a Japanese message that also relayed information about Yamamoto's travel route. Fudenna was given the latter message and began decoding the strings of Japanese words and translating them into English. When Fudenna submitted his translations to Gen. Ennis Whitehead, deputy commander of the 5th Air Force, the general cautioned Fudenna that he would be held responsible for the accuracy of the translation. The timing of the P-38 fighter plane mission was extremely critical as the planes were using detachable fuel tanks--a situation which left a very little margin of error in encountering the enemy's planes.
<br><br>Owing to Fudenna's translation, the U.S. Air Force fighter planes swiftly shot down Yamamoto's plane over the Solomon Islands, leaving no survivors. Aside from a visit by the general thanking him for his work, Fudenna never received any recognition for this important work.
<br><br>In another incident, Fudenna was told of a fellow Japanese American soldier spotted waiting in the mess line. As Fudenna approached the soldier and began a conversation with him in Japanese, he realized that the soldier was in fact an enemy Japanese. Desperate and hungry, the soldier had risked his life to disguise himself and sneak into the unit for food. He was immediately seized.
<br><br>Upon transferring to Australia, Fudenna spent a brief period with the Allied Translator and Interpreter Section (ATIS) and then moved on to the Pentagon to join a special Air Corps Intelligence Unit. He translated documents and wrote reports on Japanese aircraft production factories that developed bomber and fighter aircraft for Japan. He also became involved in the review process for the all-important surrender documents for Japan. In appreciation for his work, Fudenna was given copies of the documents, complete with signatures from the representative parties.
<br><br>In January of 1946, Fudenna was honorably discharged from the U.S. Army. He returned to school and in 1949 graduated from the University of California at Berkeley. Subsequently, he and his brothers (who also served in World War II) prospered in the farming business and later in property development projects.
