Medal of Honor recipient Hajiro to be buried at Punchbowl
Medal of Honor winner Barney Hajiro is due to be buried at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific next week.
Hajiro was a member of the 442nd Regimental Combat Team, a segregated unit of mostly Japanese-Americans that fought in World War II. He was the oldest living Medal of Honor recipient at the time of his death at the age of 94 on Jan. 21.
U.S. Army Pacific says the ceremony at Punchbowl cemetery is scheduled for tomorrow.
Hajiro received his medal for actions in battle in 1944, but wartime bias and discrimination prevented him from being recognized with the nation’s highest military honor until 56 years later in 2000.
He earned the honor for charging under German machine gun fire in France’s Vosges Mountains.
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