Warrant Officer was a member of the Imperial Japanese Navy's Zero fighter aces who fought the Battle of Solomon Islands in October 1942 – June 1943. He is best known as the only escort fighter pilot of the Yamamoto mission to have survived the war. Biography Born on Hokkaidō, he moved with his family at his age of two and grew up at Tomarioru prairie in Karafuto (Sakhalin). He enlisted in the Imperial Japanese Navy (IJN) at January 10, 1940 as an aircraft mechanic, then selected as a Hei-shu Hiko Yoka Renshu Sei (C-class Flight Reserve Trainee), a course was for seamen and naval non-commissioned officers already in the navy. He completed his pilot training course in March 1942. He then became a Flyer / 1st Class fighter pilot of 6th Kokutai at Kisarazu Air Base. Yanagiya arrived at Rabaul on October 7, 1942 as a member of 6th Kokutai, which was under the command of the 26th Air Flotilla in South East Division Air Fleet (including the 11th Air Fleet). The group was renamed the 204th Kokutai the following month. He was one of the escort fighter pilots of the Fleet Admiral Yamamoto's visit to Ballale Base on April 18, 1943. After Yamamoto's death, he was injured and lost his right hand on a subsequent mission to Russell Islands, near Guadalcanal, in June 1943, which subsequently caused him to be sent back to the home islands for treatment and recovery. The Six Escort Fighter Pilots after the Incident Yanagiya and his fellow pilots were neither accused nor criticized. Yanagiya was promoted to Petty Officer 2nd Class on May 1 as scheduled previously. The 204th Air Group commander and his staff officers knew that it was hard to save two Type 1 Land based attackers from sixteen Allied fighters engaging with only six escort fighters. The six pilots, however, thought themselves responsible for the incident so seriously that they charged themselves to shoot down as many Allied airplanes as possible. On June 7, 1943, the 204th Air Group at Buin base planned an operation to bomb Allied Russell Islands airfield with 81 fighters. Twelve Zeros, armed with firebombs beneath each wing, in 3 sets of “Lotte” formations approached at an altitude of 8000 m, while other Zero groups escorted. The reinforced 50 Allied fighters adopted new formation tactics with 10 fighters in 1 group each. A furious battle resulted between