Sadao Munemori was born in 1922 in Los Angeles, California, to Japanese immigrant parents and grew up in nearby Glendale, where he fell in love with swimming and got the nickname Spud as a kid because he preferred potatoes to rice.
After high school, he worked as a mechanic. Then, he enlisted in the army in 1941, about a month before the attack on Pearl Harbor occurred.
Despite the ensuing prejudice against Japanese Americans and Sadao's family being sent to the Manzanar internment camp in central California, Sadao remained committed to his service. In a letter to his sister a couple of years later, he wrote, "I think I did right by enlisting because my home is here in the U.S." He would be one of about 33,000 Japanese Americans who served in the U.S. Armed Forces during World War II.
In 1943, Sadao joined the 442nd Regimental Combat Team, a unit of American-born Japanese men. The following year, the unit was sent to Italy to engage in combat. "This war is hell and it's no place for anybody to be. I never knew I could pray so darn seriously until they started shelling holy hell out of us one day. One time the guys in a hole a few yards away got it and just missed us," Sadao wrote his sister.
And it was there in Italy, during a battle, that Sadao lost his life when he dove on an enemy grenade to save the lives of two fellow soldiers. He was 22 years old.
For his extraordinary bravery, Sadao was posthumously awarded the Medal of Honor, the highest military decoration awarded by the U.S.
Sources:
“Private First Class Sadao S. Munemori's Medal of Honor.” The National WWII Museum, https://www.nationalww2museum.org/war/articles/sadao-s-munemori-medal-of-honor
“Sadao Munemori.” Smithsonian, http://cgm.smithsonianapa.org/stories/sadao-munemori.html
“Sadao Munemori, c. 1940.,” Densho Encyclopedia, Courtesy of the 100th Infantry Battalion Veterans Education Center https://encyclopedia.densho.org/so…/en-denshopd-i35-00439-1/ (accessed May 27, 2024)
Excellent read. A true American hero.
May there be peace between our peoples. I love classic Japanese film, there is great and serious stuff there. https://lydwine.substack.com/p/death-itself-enough