The obituary on Barney Hajiro

The obituary on Barney Hajiro

Asian born Americans had joined the American war efforts in a very big and significant way with major contributions in the form of selfless sacrifice and undaunted gallantry in the face of enemy attack. Senator Daniel Akaka  who had some Asian roots, led a move to amend the Defence Authorisation Act in 1996 . He was a Hawaiian Democrat candidate and he felt that not enough had been done to recognise the selfless sacrifice of soldiers in the American Army who had roots in Asia. This amendment ordered the Army to relook the Distinguished Service Cross of Asian Americans and especially Japanese Americans and see if they deserved to get the Medal of Honour.  Although the Senate had ordered the relook 4 years elapsed before the Pentagon took a belated review exercise and finally President Bill Clinton presented the Medal of Honour to Senator Inoyue, Mr, Barney Hajiro and 20 other soldiers with Asian backgrounds who went beyond their call of duty and acted in the upholding of American dignity. They were all awarded the Medal of Honour the highest military recognition for bravery.  The Medal of Honour was given from the times of the American Civil War and is the highest recognition for a member of the American armed forces  

Barney Hajiro’s military service:

In the obituary of Barney Hajiro who was a simple private in the American army committed acts of valour which had gone unrecognised for more than 52 years. The fact that he had all alone on his own initiative been able to destroy two German machine gun outposts which was heavily guarded by two sniper covers went unrecognised for more than 50 years  even though his superiors had given him a recommendation of the Medal of Honour award.   The recommendation went on to state his act in 1944 October in France Hajiro ran almost 100 meters dodging a stream of enemy fire. He ran through an area that was booby trapped by the enemy and the outposts were on a hilltop called Suicide Hill and this was heavily guarded by sniper fire. He managed to destroy the enemy and in the process received 4 gun shots in the shoulders and wrists and even in this wounded condition he declined rescue efforts as he wanted 40 other wounded soldiers to be rescued before him. Barney never flouted his bravery and was humble enough to simple state it was all a part of his duty.  Hajiro, was shot in the shoulder and wrist and barred from further combat duty and he had originally received a Distinguished Service Cross, the Army's second-highest award for combat valor.

How does the obituary explain the delay in receiving his citation?

At the of the Awards function President Clinton was truthful and candid while admitting the racial discrimination and prejudice was the reason that such a ceremony was not organised earlier immediately after the war. Even senator Akaka admitted that there was a distinct element of racial prejudice which prevailed against the Japanese Americans after the war which was fallout of the Pearl Harbour attacks. Japanese Americans were mainly concentrated in the 100^th Infantry Battalion and the 442^nd Regimental Combat Team.oth units fought fiercely against the enemy but they got only one posthumous Medal of Honour which seemed like an absurdity when 3464 Medals of Honour were given to American soldiers up to the year 2009.

The obituary is silent on this aspect. Barney like all patriotic Americans was outraged by the Japanese attacks on Pearl Harbour and he was one of the first volunteers in March 1943 as were many other Japanese Hawaiians. But despite all his sincerity and angry outbursts there was nothing in the obituary which was able to explain why everything was so delayed. The only acknowledgement was made by The President Bill Clinton who admitted that this was due to racial and institutional discrimination.

Was it appropriate for the article to include Daniel Inouye in the obituary? Why or why not?

James C McNaughton who was the official historian for the American Defence Department was the first person to lead the fight against racial discrimination of the Asian American in the Second World War. He went so far as to say that the way in which the 442^nd was isolated during the institution of bravery awards was tantamount to discrimination within an institution. He also said that he never found an white coloured officer who refused to acknowledge acts of bravery by the Japanese. Daniel Inouye who had fought bravely in Italy during the war and even lost his right arm during a fierce fighting was actually a very modest person who did not understand why he and his former mates had received the medal when they had seen hundreds of other soldiers doing the same thing they had done for getting the medal. The inclusion of Inouye’s remarks gives credence to the fact that there was a deliberate effort to disregard bravery of the Asian Americans for reasons of racial prejudice and institutional discrimination.    

The military service of Japanese Americans during World War II:

The Japanese American soldiers had instituted a forum called the Citizens League which took up the case for posthumous awards of the Medal of Honour to  Sardo S Munemori and in their ongoing efforts they took help from a senator from Utah who sympathised with their struggle. He and others like him realised that the 442^nd battalion made up of around 14000 soldiers of Japanese American backgrounds were very special in their acts of bravery which was acknowledged by even the army. The 442^nd had received nearly 9500 Purple Heart awards in the war efforts and also got more than 50 awards for Distinguished Services along with 8 citations for bravery in battle given by the President. Barney Hajiro had received 3 recognitions from the Army and the President. The obituary acknowledges the members of the 442^nd as being very brave soldiers and recounts the story of the rescue of the lost battalion where 211 soldiers had been trapped in a precarious situation and the 442^nd rescued them at the cost of heavy causalities. 

Hajiro obituary with the Japanese-American World War II experience 

The obituary is silent on the issues involved as they seemed to be steeped in controversy. Of the 22 Asian-Americans whose decorations were upgraded to the Medal of Honour, all but two were Japanese-Americans and members the 442nd or the 100th Infantry Battalion. ..

Though Mr. Hajiro was widely respected for getting the French Legion of Honour he was never allowed to forget that he was Japanese and he accepted his fate that the discrimination and hatred of the Japanese would remain for a long time after the war and he would always be called a Jap by the Americans. The Medal of Honor had been created in the times of the Civil war and given to those who risked their lives in the service of the nation by acts of bravery which were beyond the call of duty.

Out of the 3464 Medals of Honor that had been presented up to 2009 only 31 had been given to Asian Americans.  Mr Hajiro received the Medal after more than 56 years after the war and was the oldest person to receive this honour. Being born in Hawaii he came from a very modest background having dropped school at a very early age and having done very hard work for long hours in the dockyard. He was not allowed to carry arms when he was drafted in the army and made to dig ditches. This was a really sad state of affairs for such a brave man.