During World War II, he commanded the 98th Bombardment Group, a B-24 Liberator unit, and conducted bombing missions in Europe, Africa and the Middle East.

On January 22, 1927, he was traveling with the basketball team to a game when their bus was struck by a train in Round Rock, Texas, killing 10 of the 22 people aboard; Kane escaped with minor injuries.

Re-entering active duty in late 1935, he returned to the Shreveport, Louisiana, area to serve at Barksdale Field, eventually becoming the base commander.

By April 1940, he was assigned to MacDill Field in Florida as an operations officer and then commanded a squadron at Lackland Air Force Base in Texas.

[5] On August 1, 1943, Kane, by then a colonel, led the 98th in Operation Tidal Wave, a low-altitude bombing mission against oil refineries in Ploieşti, Romania.

En route to the target, which called for a round-trip flight of over 2,400 miles, his element became separated from the leading portion of the massed formation while avoiding dense cloud conditions over mountainous terrain.

In April 1948, he was made director of technical schools at Lowry Air Force Base, Colorado, and also served there as inspector general and commander of the 3415th Maintenance and Supply Group.

He returned to the United States in December 1953, as commander of Smoky Hill Air Force Base, Kansas, where he served until he resigned and was honorably discharged on May 10, 1954.

On this date he led the third element of heavy bombardment aircraft in a mass low-level bombing attack against the vitally important enemy target of the Ploesti oil refineries.

En route to the target, which necessitated a round-trip flight of over 2,400 miles, Col. Kane's element became separated from the leading portion of the massed formation in avoiding dense and dangerous cumulous cloud conditions over mountainous terrain.

By his gallant courage, brilliant leadership, and superior flying skill, he and the formation under his command successfully attacked this vast refinery so essential to our enemies' war effort.