History - Military Medal Recipients - Barney F Hajiro (WW2)
For the final instalment of this series, I’ve chosen an American soldier from World War 2.
I admit to being embarrassed at my ignorance, being completely unaware until now that Japanese Americans had fought in World War 2. This post is also in honour of those brave men.
Barney F Hajiro - US Dept of Defence (Wikipedia)
Barney Fushimi Hajiro was born on the 16th of September 1916 in Maui, Hawaii, the second of 9 children, 2 of whom died in infancy.
His Japanese parents had moved from Hiroshima to Maui during World War 1.
To help support the family, Hajiro left school, working first in sugarcane fields and then as a stevedore in Honolulu.
Following the Japanese Navy’s attack on Pearl Harbour on the 7th of December 1941, Japanese American men were categorised as ‘enemy alien’, which excluded them from the draft.
To begin with, Americans stood by the large population of Japanese Americans who lived on the West Coast of America, believing their loyalty to the country to be unquestionable.
But about 6 weeks after Pearl Harbour, public opinion began to turn against the Japanese Americans and pressure mounted on the administration to come up with a satisfactory solution.
That turned out to be forced relocation and internment camps, and the requirement to carry certificates of identification.
In Hawaii, a significantly large number of the population was of Japanese ancestry and they made up a substantial portion of the workforce.
Businessmen there, recognising the adverse impact interning such a huge number would have on the economy, opposed internment, fully supporting the commander of the US Army in Hawaii, General Delos C. Emmons when he argued against the internment of the islands’ Japanese Americans.
General Delos C Emmons (Wikipedia)
In early 1942, when the War Department called for the removal of all soldiers of Japanese ancestry from active service, General Emmons discharged those in the Hawaii Territorial Guard, which was the state defence force during the war. However, he allowed the Japanese American soldiers of the 298th and 299th Infantry Regiment of the Hawaii National Guard – numbering over 1,300 men – to remain in service.
Two months after the attack on Pearl Harbour, Hajiro was drafted into the US Army. As part of an engineering battalion, he performed menial labour.
The men who’d been discharged from the Hawaii Territorial Guard petitioned General Emmons to allow them to assist in the war effort.
When he granted their petition, they formed a group called the Varsity Victory Volunteers, which performed various military construction jobs.
Worried about the loyalty of Japanese American soldiers if the Japanese invaded, General Emmons recommended to the War Department that the 298th and 299th regiments be organised into a ‘Hawaiian Provisional Battalion’ to be sent to the mainland for training.
His recommendation was authorised and in June 1942, the Hawaiian Provisional Battalion left for Camp McCoy in Wisconsin.
On the 15th of June 1942, the battalion was designated the 100th Infantry Battalion.
The Varsity Victory Volunteers and the 100th Battalion were instrumental in the creation of the 442nd Regimental Combat Team.
In January 1943, the War Department directed that a Japanese American combat team be activated comprising the 442nd, the 522nd Field Artillery Battalion and the 232nd Engineer Combat Company, stating “All cadre men must be American citizens of Japanese ancestry who have resided in the United States since birth”, basically, those born in America to Japanese-born immigrants. These children are referred to as ‘Nisei’, a Japanese term meaning ‘second-generation’.
The 442nd Combat Team was activated on the 1st of February 1943, its motto, ‘Go for Broke’.
Original 442nd unit insignia as issued during WW2 (Wikipedia)
By April 1943, the team had already grown to its fighting complement of 4,000 men, eventually totalling about 14,000 men overall.
For its size and length of service, the 442nd is the most decorated unit in US military history, earning more than 18,000 awards in less than 2 years, including more than 4,000 Purple Hearts – awarded in the name of the President to those wounded or killed while serving – and 4,000 Bronze Star Medals – awarded for heroic achievement/service or meritorious achievement/service in a combat zone.
The 100th Infantry Battalion earned the nickname, ‘The Purple Heart Battalion’, because of the number injured in combat.
The 442nd was also awarded 8 Presidential Unit Citations, earning 5 in 1 month. The Presidential Unit Citation is awarded to units of the uniformed services of the US, and those of allied countries, for extraordinary heroism in action against an armed enemy on or after the 7th of December 1941. To qualify for the citation, the unit must display a level of gallantry and determination in accomplishing its mission under extremely difficult and hazardous conditions, which sets it apart from other units participating in the same campaign.
President Truman decorates the colours of the 442nd Infantry, presenting the unit with another Presidential Unit Citation, 15 July 1946 - courtesy of the US Army (Wikipedia)
In March 1943, Hajiro volunteered to join the Army’s 442nd Regimental Combat Team.
Japanese American soldiers were allowed to volunteer to fight but they were forbidden to fight in the Pacific Theatre against the Japanese.
Instead, they were sent to Europe.
In May 1944, the 442nd fought the Germans in Italy before being redeployed to France.
Japanese-American infantrymen of the 442nd Regimental Combat Team hike up a muddy French road in the Chambois Sector, France, late 1944 - US Army (Wikipedia)
In October 1944, the 442nd were ordered to take the hills around Bruyères in eastern France, specifically Hills A, B, C and D.
Part of the Vosges Mountains, a range of low mountains in France near its border with Germany, each hill was heavily guarded as the location of each – northwest, north, northeast and east – was imperative in taking and securing the town.
Being part of the German frontline and the last barrier between the Allied forces and Germany, the Germans had their orders to maintain the line at all costs.
Apart from heavy gunfire and artillery, the men of the 442nd faced conditions they were not used to in the hills – dense fog, mud, heavy rain, large trees.
The attack on Bruyères began on the 15th of October.
After 3 days of fighting, the town fell but was not yet secure as the Germans still held Hills C and D.
While acting as a sentry on an embankment near Bruyères on the 19th of October, Hajiro drew enemy fire while assisting his fellow soldiers and successfully directed fire at an enemy strong point. He further assisted his unit by killing or wounding two enemy snipers.
Soon after the 20th of October, after more fighting, the hills were finally taken, and Bruyères secured.
After liberating Bruyères and a short rest, the 100th Battalion was ordered to the battle of Biffontaine, another town close by.
Encircled by German forces in the town, cut off from the 442nd, outside radio contact and artillery support, the 100th had to engage in house-to-house fighting, battling continuously from the 22nd until dusk of the 23rd of October.
On the 22nd, Hajiro and one other positioned themselves in a concealed location and ambushed an 18-man, heavily armed German patrol, killing 2 and taking the remainder prisoner.
Help arrived in the form of the 3rd Battalion of the 442nd; together with the 100th, they drove out the remaining German troops.
After barely 2 days’ rest, the 442nd was then ordered to attempt the rescue of the ‘Lost Battalion’ 2 miles from Biffontaine.
The ‘Lost Battalion’, 1st Battalion of the 141st Infantry, had begun its attack on the German line between Rambervillers and Biffontaine on the 23rd of October. Facing heavy fighting, they were eventually cut off just over a mile behind enemy lines. Surrounded by German troops, they were forced to dig in until help arrived.
On the 27th of October, the 442nd began their rescue of the cut-off battalion. The coming days would involve the men in the heaviest fighting they would see in the war.
Dense fog combined with very dark nights limited visibility to barely 20 feet and many men held on to the one in front of him so as not to get lost.
As they got closer to the German frontlines, they were hampered by falling temperatures, rain, snow, mud, fatigue, trench foot and even exploding trees.
On the 29th of October, as the men of the 442nd got closer to the Germans, they grew more hesitant.
It’s unclear who was the first, but Hajiro is cited as initiating an attack up the slope of a hill, running forward while under fire.
As more men rose to attack, more followed until the entire 442nd charged the Germans, screaming as they did so, despite gunfire and artillery shells, and their comrades falling around them.
Hajiro single-handedly destroyed 2 machine gun nests and killed 2 enemy snipers.
In the face of the relentless onslaught, the German defences broke, and the surviving troops fled.
The battle lasted 5 days, from the 26th to the 30th of October 1944, when 211 men of the ‘Lost Battalion’ were rescued.
The 442nd suffered over 800 casualties.
Of the 185 men of I Company, 8 had survived unhurt; of K Company’s 186 men, 169 were either wounded or killed.
Colour bearers of the 442nd Combat Team stand at attention while their citations are read on ground in the Bruyeres area where many of their comrades fell; 12 Nov 1944 - US Army Signal Corps (Wikipedia)
Having survived the battle, Hajiro was shot in the shoulder and wrist in another firefight, which partially paralysed his left arm.
Although able to re-join the 442nd, he was barred from further combat duty and was eventually sent back to America to recover.
Before he was honourably discharged, Hajiro received the Distinguished Service Cross, which is the US Army’s second-highest military decoration for soldiers who display extraordinary heroism in combat, and the World War II Victory Medal; every member of the US Armed Forces who served from 7th of December 1941 to the 31st of December 1946 was eligible for that medal.
In 1948, the British government awarded Hajiro the Military Medal.
Apart from the name of his wife – Esther – and their son, possibly their only child, Glenn, there appears to be little detail of Hajiro after the war.
On the 21st of June 2000, Hajiro, along with 21 other former US military personnel of Asian descent, received the Medal of Honor, 15 of them posthumously, during a ceremony at the White House. The Medal of Honor is the United States’ highest military award for valour.
Barney Hajiro, World War II Medal of Honor recipient, at a ceremony celebrating veterans of the 442nd Combat Regimental Team at Hickam Air Force Base, Hawaii, June 14 2006 - USAF Tech Sgt Shane A Cuomo (Wikipedia) (Hajiro is shown with his Medal of Honor)
In 2004, the French awarded him the Légion d’honneur (Legion of Honour).
French Legion of Honour (Wikipedia)
Barney Hajiro died on the 21st of January 2011 in Waipahu, aged 94. He is buried at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific in Honolulu.
From what I’ve read in my research, the all-Nisei units were formidable and immensely courageous. That they fought with such devotion to duty for their country is beyond admirable in my view considering, for many, their families were in internment camps in the US even as they battled in Europe.