Hometown: Fresno, CA
Branch: U.S. Army
Unit: Company G, 2d Battalion, 442d Regimental Combat Team, 36th Infantry Division
Military Honors: Medal of Honor, Distinguished Service Cross, Silver Star, Purple Heart
Date of Sacrifice: November 14, 1944 - KIA near La Houssiere, Lorraine, France
Age: 25 
Conflict: World War II, 1939-1945

Giichi and Kiyo Nishimoto were first-generation “Issei” Japanese Americans who immigrated to the United States, settling near Fresno, California. Their son Joe was born there on February 21, 1919, joining older brother Frank and sisters Akie and Marie.

In 1939, at age 20, Joe ran his own fruit farm in the Fresno area when war broke out in Europe (World War II 1939-1945) with Adolf Hitler’s invasion of Poland. At the time Americans had the luxury of being interested observers, following news about a war that was an ocean away.

Everything changed two years later—on December 7, 1941—when Imperial Japan attacked the U.S. Navy base at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. American leaders planned for a possible Japanese invasion of the west coast, and fears ran high that the large population of Japanese Americans might assist the invaders. The Nishimoto family suddenly became suspects in their own country.

On February 19, 1942, President Franklin D. Roosevelt issued Executive Order 9066, a policy that authorized the arrest and relocation of anyone of Japanese descent to military internment camps further inland. In the name of national security and “protection against espionage and against sabotage to national-defense premises,” more than 100,000 men, women, and children of Japanese ancestry were forcibly removed from their homes, farms, and businesses—to be confined and guarded in isolated concentration camps.

Joe Nishimoto was moved to Jerome Concentration Camp in southeast Arkansas, while his parents were taken to nearby Rohwer Concentration Camp in Desha County. Accounts vary as to how Joe was allowed to leave the camp and travel to Marion, Ohio, where his then-married sisters lived. The Ohio Department of Veterans Services says that Joe’s brother-in-law, Sam Ishida, secured his release. Other accounts suggest that the FBI granted Joe permission to settle somewhere in the east.

Whatever the reason, Joe wasted no time in volunteering for the United States Army the moment he arrived in Marion—even though he’d been treated as a potential traitor by the country of his birth, and even though his parents were still denied their freedom and incarcerated at Rohwer. Perhaps, like many Japanese Americans, Joe wanted to remove all doubt about his loyalties.

Joe spent seven months working at Old’s Poultry Farm and Hatchery in Marion, waiting for his enlistment to be approved. On October 4, 1943, Joe Nishimoto was at last assigned to the 442nd Regimental Combat Team, and traveled by train to Camp Shelby in Hattiesburg, Mississippi for training. Joe’s older brother Frank was also assigned to the 442nd.

The 442nd was a segregated infantry unit made up entirely of second-generation “Nisei” Japanese Americans who had been barred from military service following Pearl Harbor. When the restriction was lifted in 1943, some 10,000 Japanese Americans reported to Army recruiting offices.

Under the motto “Go for Broke,” the all-Nisei 442nd proved not only loyal but indispensable to Allied victories in Italy and France. By 1944, Japanese American men who just a few years earlier had been seen as a problem for the Army had become one of the most highly-decorated military units in U.S. history. General George C. Marshall said of the 442nd, “They were superb! They took terrific casualties. They showed rare courage and tremendous fighting spirit…Everybody wanted them.”

PFC Joe M. Nishimoto’s bravery in combat made him one of the most highly decorated of the Nisei soldiers. His actions in Italy on August 31, 1944 earned him the Silver Star. His citation reads:

The President of the United States of America, authorized by Act of Congress July 9, 1918, takes pride in presenting the Silver Star (Posthumously) to Private First Class Joe M. Nishimoto (ASN: 35229917), United States Army, for gallantry in action while serving with Company G, 2d Battalion, 442d Infantry Regiment, in action against the enemy near Mantignano, Italy on 31 August 1944. As a member of a patrol instructed to make a bold daylight crossing of the Arno River to clear an area for occupation by his company, Private First Class Nishimoto as the first soldier to cross the river exposed himself to the enemy for 200 yards, and immediately covered the crossing of the balance of the patrol. While in the process of clearing the area, Private First Class Nishimoto on four different occasions located trip wires attached to anti-personnel mines and booby traps and guided the patrol over a safe route through the heavily mined area. When an enemy machine gun opened fire, he circled to the left, climbed a 20 foot embankment directly above the position and threw a grenade killing an officer. Despite the fact that a concussion grenade landed directly in front of him and failed to explode, he crawled to within 15 yards of the enemy and threw another grenade, badly wounding two men and forcing three others to surrender. Considerable ammunition and weapons including a transmitting and receiving set which was being used to direct enemy artillery were captured. Private First Class Nishimoto's skill and ability and his courage in the face of gravest danger contributed greatly to the successful accomplishment of the mission and his actions reflect great credit upon himself and the Army of the United States.

Just over two months later, PFC Nishimoto’s actions in pushing back German lines near La Houssiere, France, on November 7, 1944 earned him the Distinguished Service Cross. He would be killed in combat a week after that action, near La Houssiere, France.

More than 50 years later, in the early 1990s legislators called for a review of PFC Nishimoto’s service record—and those of other Japanese American service members from World War II—to determine whether any of them had been passed over for the Medal of Honor due to the discrimination of the time.

As a result of that review, on June 21, 2000, 22 men who served in segregated units during World War II had their Distinguished Service Cross medals upgraded to Congressional Medals of Honor. President Bill Clinton presented Joe Nishimoto’s Medal of Honor to his oldest sister, Akie.

PFC Nishimoto’s Medal of Honor citation reads:

The President of the United States of America, in the name of Congress, takes pride in presenting the Medal of Honor (Posthumously) to Private First Class Joe M. Nishimoto (ASN: 35229917), United States Army, for conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity in action above and beyond the call of duty while serving with Company G, 2d Battalion, 442d Regimental Combat Team, attached to the 36th Infantry Division, in action against the enemy on 7 November 1944, near La Houssiere, France. After three days of unsuccessful attempts by his company to dislodge the enemy from a strongly defended ridge, Private First Class Nishimoto, as acting squad leader, boldly crawled forward through a heavily mined and booby-trapped area. Spotting a machine gun nest, he hurled a grenade and destroyed the emplacement. Then, circling to the rear of another machine gun position, he fired his submachine gun at point-blank range, killing one gunner and wounding another. Pursuing two enemy riflemen, Private First Class Nishimoto killed one, while the other hastily retreated. Continuing his determined assault, he drove another machine gun crew from its position. The enemy, with their key strong points taken, were forced to withdraw from this sector. Private First Class Nishimoto’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.

In a tragic irony, after PFC Joe M. Nishimoto gave “the last full measure of devotion” to his country, his Silver Star medal was presented to his parents—still confined at the Rohwer Concentration Camp in Arkansas. For three years, Giichi and Kiyo Nishimoto were denied the freedom their son had defended with his life.

Sources
Military Times—The Hall of Valor: Joe M. Nishimoto
History.com: Japanese Internment Camps
National Archives—Executive Order 9066: Resulting in the Relocation of Japanese
National D-Day Memorial Foundation: The Nisei Soldiers of World War II
Ohio Department of Veterans Services: Joe M. Nishimoto
The Marion Star, December 20, 1944: American-Japanese Soldier from Marion Dies in Action
U.S. Department of Defense—Medal of Honor Monday: Army Pfc. Joe Nishimoto
The Fresno Bee, June 27, 1945: Receives Silver Star
History.com: How a Japanese American Regiment Rescued WWII’s ‘Lost Battalion’
Honor States: Joe M Nishimoto
Burial Site: Find a Grave