Researchers mark death of Pearl Harbor mastermind Yamamoto

ALBANY, N.Y. –  A group from the U.S. and Japan is trekking to a remote Pacific island jungle to document what is considered one of the most important wreck sites of World War II.

Three members of a WWII research organization and a Japanese aviation expert plan to visit the site in Papua New Guinea where American fighters shot down a Japanese bomber carrying the mastermind of the Pearl Harbor attack on Wednesday.

That’s the 75th anniversary of the death of Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto.

Yamamoto’s death came after U.S. code breakers learned of his planned tour of Japanese bases in the Solomon Islands on April 18, 1943. U.S. fighters intercepted the admiral’s plane and shot it down.

Historians credit Yamamoto with devising the Pearl Harbor attack, which killed more than 2,400 people and drew the U.S. into the war.