American Historical Ephemera & Photography

Yamamoto Mission Retrospective 45th Anniversary. Fredericksburg, TX: Admiral Nimitz Museum, 1988. 11 x 17 in. printed color poster. SIGNED BY 8 SURVIVING AMERICAN PILOTS FROM "OPERATION VENGEANCE" AND 2 JAPANESE PILOTS:

Lieutenant Rex BARBER ("Rex T. Barber"; 1917-2001). -- Lt. Besby T. HOLMES ("Besby F. Homes"). -- Major John MITCHELL ("John W. Mitchell"; 1914-1995). -- Lt. Julius JACOSBSON ("Julius "Jack" Jacobson"). -- Lt. Doug "Old Eagle Eyes" CANNING ("Doug Canning"). -- Captain Louis KITTEL ("Lou Kittel"). -- Lt. Delton GOERKE ("Delton C. Goerke"). -- Lt. Roger AMES ("Roger J. Ames"; 1919-2000). -- YANAGIYA Kenji ("柳谷 謙治"; 1919-2008). -- SAKAI Saburō ("Saburo Sakai 坂井 三郎"; 1916-2000).

[With:] SILVA, Peter A., photographer. Eight black and white photographs of the Yamamoto Mission Retrospective 45th Anniversary. [Fredericksburg, TX}: Peter A. Silva, 1988. Photographer's imprint to verso. Images show Kenji Yanagiya, Saburō Sakai, and the eight surviving American crew members from Operation Vengeance. Posed next to and in the cockpits of restored Japanese aircraft. Provenance: Poster and signatures collected at the event by photographer Peter A. Silva. 

Operation Vengenace (18 April 1943) was the successful American military operation designed to kill Japanese Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto (1884-1943), who was blamed for the attack on Pearl Harbor. Based on United States Navy intelligence, a team of pilots was formed from two squadrons of the 347th group with the 339th Fighter Squadron officially carrying out the mission. Four pilots, including Lieutenant Rex T. Barber, were selected in the "killer" flight, and 14 other pilots were selected to serve as reserves and provide air cover against retaliatory attacks. Barber is officially considered the pilot to take down Yamamoto.

The poster and images here are from a symposium held at the Admiral Nimitz Museum on the 45th anniversary of the Operation. In attendance were the eight surviving members of the Operation as well as two Japanese pilots: Saburō Sakai, a Japanese flying ace known as the "Samurai of the Sky," and Kenji Yanagiya, the only Japanese escort fighter pilot to have survived the Yamamoto Mission/Operation Vengeance and the War.