One of many Final Two Korean Conflict Medal of Honor Recipients Died at 97

Hiroshi Miyamura, one of many final two dwelling Medal of Honor recipients from the Korean Conflict, died on Nov. 29, 2022, at age 97.

Together with his loss of life, there are solely 64 dwelling recipients of america’ highest award for valor in fight.

Miyamura first joined the Army to struggle in a unit made up totally of Japanese-People despatched to Europe throughout World Conflict II. He went via the required coaching, however by the point he was able to see actual fight, the warfare ended. He stayed within the Army Reserve after the warfare.

It would not be lengthy earlier than the Army referred to as him up once more. This time, he could be despatched to Korea and discover himself combating off 10 enemy troopers with simply his bayonet. He was finally captured by the communists, and the Medal of Honor he obtained for that motion could be a intently guarded secret till he got here residence.

The longer term Cpl. Miyamura was born in New Mexico, the place his Japanese immigrant household ran an all-night diner. He grew up with the nickname “Hershey,” as a result of not one of the native residents may pronounce his precise identify. He was 16 when the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor, however desperate to show his mettle as an American.

Miyamura joined the Army and was despatched to Europe to coach with the famed 442d Regimental Fight Crew, composed of solely People of Japanese descent. When he received to Europe, the Axis Powers there had already surrendered. He joined the Army Reserve and went residence to New Mexico, the place he married.

In June 1950, North Korea all of the sudden invaded South Korea and President Harry S. Truman dedicated america to the protection of the South. Miyamura was referred to as up and first despatched to the Japanese island of Honshu, the place his father was raised. On Nov. 5, 1950, Miyamura and the seventh Infantry Regiment landed at Wonsan, on the East Coast of the peninsula.

They superior so near the Yalu River, China’s border with North Korea, Miyamura may see the enemy massed on the Chinese language aspect of the river.

The Chinese language Folks’s Volunteer Army (PVA) had intervened within the warfare for North Korea and blunted the United Nations advance. Miyamura and the remainder of the U.S. Army’s third Infantry Division, seventh Infantry Regiment moved towards the North Korean port metropolis of Hungnam to cowl the withdrawal of the first Marine Division and Job Power Religion.

The Marines and Job Power Religion had a bloody, brutal assembly on the Chosin Reservoir. The UN forces, overwhelmed by China’s numbers, have been making ready to evacuate from Hungnam. Miyamura and the seventh Infantry have been among the many final pleasant forces to go away Hungnam. They have been redeployed simply north of Seoul in time to fulfill the PVA’s 1951 Spring Offensive.

Close to the thirty eighth Parallel, an estimated 700,000 Chinese language and North Korean troops hit the 418,000 UN defenders throughout the peninsula. The preliminary assault shocked the largely unprepared South Koreans, who collapsed and retreated, clogging the roads and hampering the UN’s potential to strengthen its line elsewhere. In lower than a day, the communists had pushed the UN to its first fallback place, the Kansas Line.

Miyamura was in a defensive place on a hill simply north of the Kansas Line, exchanging fireplace with the advancing Chinese language. On the evening of April 24, 1951, he watched the world in entrance of him. There was no moonlight coming via the clouds, and the Chinese language have been making a racket with clanging pans and whistles..

He awoke the pleasant forces on the hill, simply earlier than the noises stopped. The People fired a flare simply in time to see the throngs of enemy troopers climbing to their positions.

The Chinese language have been nearly proper on prime of them. Miyamura and the People started combating a large human wave assault. For 2 hours, the troopers gunned down charging Chinese language troops. Once they had simply 200 rounds left, he ordered his males to repair their bayonets. As the subsequent wave closed in, he was the primary to leap out, emptying his rifle into them earlier than attacking along with his bayonet.

Miyamura killed 10 enemy troopers, then jumped again on his machine gun till the final of its ammo was expended. He ordered his squad to withdraw and coated their escape along with his rifle and grenades. He then bayoneted his means for one more machine gun place, till that one additionally ran out of ammunition and was overrun.

As he moved to fall again as soon as extra, he got here throughout an enemy soldier, who dropped a grenade when Miyamura bayoneted him, too. The fragmentation from the grenade poured into his leg, however he saved attempting to maneuver and canopy his unit’s escape. Based on his Medal of Honor quotation, “When final seen he was combating ferociously in opposition to an amazing variety of enemy troopers.”

He handed out from blood loss and exhaustion. He awoke to seek out himself a prisoner of the Chinese language military. He was forcibly marched from the battlefield close to the North-South Korea border to a jail camp close to the Chinese language border, some 300 miles. He could be held there for 2 years whereas america awarded him the Medal of Honor.

Miyamura’s Medal of Honor was the primary one ever awarded that was categorized as prime secret. American officers feared the communists would retaliate in opposition to him in the event that they knew what he did on the battlefield that day. He wasn’t launched from captivity till Aug. 20, 1953, as a part of Operation Huge Change. That is when he discovered about his Medal of Honor.

President Dwight D. Eisenhower introduced him with the medal on the White Home on Oct. 27, 1953. Miyamura left the Army and returned residence to New Mexico.

— Blake Stilwell may be reached at blake.stilwell@navy.com. He can be discovered on Twitter @blakestilwell or on Fb.

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