![\"Portrait](\"https:\/\/upload.wikimedia.org\/wikipedia\/commons\/3\/3d\/SSgt_Hiroshi_Myamura.jpg\")
\nStaff Sergeant, U.S. Army \u2014 Korean War<\/strong><\/p>\n Hiroshi “Hershey” Miyamura was born on October 6, 1925, in Gallup, New Mexico, the son of Japanese immigrants. Drafted in 1944, he served with the famed Japanese American 442nd Regimental Combat Team but reached Italy just as the war in Europe ended. He married in 1948, ran a service station in Gallup, and was recalled to active duty from the Army Reserve when the Korean War began.<\/p>\n Miyamura arrived in Korea in November 1950 as a corporal and squad leader with Company H, 2nd Battalion, 7th Infantry Regiment, 3rd Infantry Division. On the night of April 24\u201325, 1951, near Taejon-ni, south of the Imjin River, Chinese forces attacked his position in waves. Miyamura leaped from his shelter and killed ten of the enemy in bayonet fighting, returned to aid the wounded, then manned a machine gun against a second assault. When the position could no longer be held, he ordered his men to withdraw and covered them \u2014 emptying one machine gun, fighting his way to a second, and firing until its ammunition was gone too. He was credited with killing at least fifty enemy soldiers before being severely wounded and captured.<\/p>\n What followed was unique in Medal of Honor history: his award was classified Top Secret while he sat in a prison camp, for fear his captors would take revenge if they learned what he had done. He endured 28 months as a POW and, on the march into captivity, carried his wounded friend Joe Annello until Annello himself insisted on being put down \u2014 Annello survived, and the two remained lifelong friends. Freed on August 20, 1953, Miyamura was told of the medal and promoted to sergeant; President Dwight D. Eisenhower presented it at the White House on October 27, 1953.<\/p>\n Miyamura returned to Gallup, where he mentored generations of local youth and became a beloved figure in his hometown. He died on November 29, 2022, in Phoenix, Arizona, at age 97.<\/p>\n Sources: Wikipedia<\/a> \u00b7 Congressional Medal of Honor Society<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n