Hiroshi “Hershey” Miyamura, the son of Japanese immigrants who received the US Medal of Honor for stopping an attack to allow a US squadron to withdraw during the Korean War, has died.
The Congressional Medal of Honor Society announced that Miyamura died Tuesday at his home in Phoenix. She was 97.
Born in Gallup, New Mexico, Miyamura’s parents operated a 24-hour restaurant near the Navajo Nation where the family interacted with the diverse population of miners and travelers passing through Route 66.
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Miyamura’s mother died when he was 11, and his father never spoke of Japan, Miyamura said in later interviews. He would earn the nickname “Hershey” because a teacher couldn’t pronounce his first name.
Miyamura worked as a car mechanic during high school. He joined the US Army late in World War II after the federal government lifted restrictions on the service of Japanese Americans. Miyamura was allowed to join the 442nd Infantry Regiment, made up almost entirely of “nisei”, born in the US to Japanese immigrant parents.
After the war, Miyamura met Terry Tsuchimori, a woman from a family that had been forced to live in the Poston internment camp in southwestern Arizona after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. They married in 1948 and had three children.
Miyamura continued to serve in the Army Reserves and was called into action during the Korean War.
Hiroshi Miyamura attends the dedication ceremony for the National Medal of Honor Museum on March 25, 2022 in Arlington, Texas.
(Amanda McCoy/Star-Telegram via AP, File)
On the night of April 24, 1951, near Taejon-ni, Miyamura’s company was attacked by a Chinese invading force. Miyamura ordered his squad to withdraw while he stayed behind and continued to fight, giving his men enough time to evacuate.
Miyamura and fellow squad leader Joseph Lawrence Annello, from Castle Rock, Colorado, were captured. Though wounded, Miyamura carried the wounded Annello for miles until Chinese soldiers ordered him at gunpoint to leave Annello on the side of a road. Miyamura refused the orders until Annello convinced him to put him down.
Annello was then picked up by another Chinese unit and taken to a POW camp, from which he escaped.
Miyamura was imprisoned for two years and four months.
Upon his release, President Dwight D. Eisenhower presented him with the Medal of Honor. It had been secretly awarded while he was still a prisoner of war.
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“I never thought I would receive the Medal of Honor for doing my duty, and I thought that’s all I was doing, it was my duty,” Miyamura said in the 2018 Netflix documentary “Medal of Honor.”
Miyamura and Annello later met and remained lifelong friends. Annello died in 2018.
After the Korean War, Miyamura returned to Gallup a hero. More than 5,000 people came to receive the train from him. He spent much of the rest of his life working in the city as a car mechanic.
In his Living History documentary at the Congressional Medal of Honor Society Library, Miyamura reflected on soldiers who deserved recognition but never received it.
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“There are so many Americans who don’t know what the Medal stands for or what any soldier or serviceman or man does for their country. And I believe that one of these days, I hope one of these days, they will find out about the sacrifices that many of those who men and women have done for this country,” he said.
Miyamura remained active on veterans issues, giving annual summer lectures to military members in Gallup, New Mexico. The talks have drawn hundreds of military men and women over the years.
In 2019, an attendee announced that Miyamura had likely given his last public talk due to his deteriorating health.
New Mexico Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham and Navajo Nation Vice President Myron Lizer called Miyamura a hero and said he will be missed by many who will always be grateful for his service.
Miyamura is survived by numerous family members. Funeral arrangements are pending.
