World War II Database

Contributor: C. Peter Chen

ww2dbaseBarney Fushimi Hajiro was born in the US Territory of Hawaii in 1916 to immigrants from Hiroshima, Japan. Even as a child he worked in the sugarcane fields of Maui and then as a stevedore in Honolulu to help supplement his family's income. In Jan 1942, he was drafted into the US Army, initially placed to work as a menial laborer. In Mar 1943, he volunteered to be part of the 442nd Regimental Combat Team, a combat unit mostly consisted of second-generation Americans citizens of Japanese descent from US proper as well as US territories. He distinguished himself in several separate engagements in eastern France in Oct 1944, including the 22 Oct 1944 feat of successfully eliminating an 18-man German patrol by only Hajiro and one other fellow soldier (2 killed, 16 captured), and the 29 Oct 1944 feat of single-handedly destroying two German machine gun emplacements near Biffontaine in the Lorraine Region. He was later shot in the shoulder and wrist leaving his left arm partially paralyzed, and was eventually sent back to the United States due to those injuries. He was was recommended for the Medal of Honor for his actions in Oct 1944, and he was awarded the Distinguished Service Cross medal. In the 1990s, his Distinguished Service Cross was upgraded to the Medal of Honor, and the medal was presented by US President Bill Clinton at the White House in Washington DC, United States on 21 Jun 2000. He passed away at the Maunalani Care Home in Honolulu, Hawaii, United States in 2011. He was buried at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific in Honolulu.

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Barney Hajiro Timeline