The thing about oral histories is . . .
These stories touch your heart!
We’re transcribing an oral history and we can’t understand something the interviewee is saying. So I decided to search the internet for another interview. Some of these veterans have been interviewed multiple times, and sometimes you can pick up an indecipherable word from another interview.
I was just listening to the word. I didn’t realize this gentleman had won the Congressional Medal of Honor. He was a Japanese-American during World War 2. He was born in Hawaii, as he said, he was as American as anybody else. But he was drafted, but he was kept on a cleaning detail, cleaning the road, sweeping the officer’s quadrant, things like that. After Pearl Harbor, they were shipped to Wisconsin, to a compound fenced with barbed-wire, so their first thought was that they were being sent to a concentration camp.
But later in his service, this happened. Mr. Hayashi was a private, relegated to cleaning duty. They were shipped to Oran to guard supply trains. He volunteered to join the all-Nisei 100th Battalion. Then this happened.
World War II - U.S. Army
SHIZUYA HAYASHI
DETAILS
RANK: PRIVATE
CONFLICT/ERA: WORLD WAR II
UNIT/COMMAND:
COMPANY A,
100TH INFANTRY BATTALION (SEPARATE)MILITARY SERVICE BRANCH: U.S. ARMY
MEDAL OF HONOR ACTION DATE: NOVEMBER 29, 1943
MEDAL OF HONOR ACTION PLACE: NEAR CERASUOLO, ITALY
CITATION
For conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity at risk of his life above and beyond the call of duty. Private Shizuya Hayashi distinguished himself by extraordinary heroism in action on 29 November 1943, near Cerasuolo, Italy. During a flank assault on high ground held by the enemy, Private Hayashi rose alone in the face of grenade, rifle, and machine gun fire. Firing his automatic rifle from the hip, he charged and overtook an enemy machine gun position, killing seven men in the nest and two more as they fled. After his platoon advanced 200 yards from this point, an enemy antiaircraft gun opened fire on the men. Private Hayashi returned fire at the hostile position, killing nine of the enemy, taking four prisoners, and forcing the remainder of the force to withdraw from the hill. Private Hayashi's extraordinary heroism and devotion to duty are in keeping with the highest traditions of military service and reflect great credit on him, his unit, and the United States Army.
ADDITIONAL DETAILS
ACCREDITED TO: WAIALUA, OAHU, HONOLULU COUNTY
AWARDED POSTHUMOUSLY: NO
PRESENTATION DATE & DETAILS: JUNE 21, 2000
THE WHITE HOUSE - PRESENTED BY PRESIDENT WILLIAM J. CLINTONBORN: NOVEMBER 28, 1917, WAIALUA, OAHU, HONOLULU COUNTY
DIED: MARCH 12, 2008, PEARL CITY, HI, UNITED STATES
BURIED: NATIONAL MEMORIAL CEMETERY OF THE PACIFIC, HONOLULU, HI, UNITED STATES
PHOTO GALLERY
