Edward Noboru Kaneshiro

Medal of Honor Hero of the Vietnam War

When two American squads were trapped under devastating enemy fire in a fortified Vietnamese village, Staff Sergeant Edward Noboru Kaneshiro did not wait for someone else to act. He ordered his own men to cover, crawled toward the enemy alone, and attacked a bunker and trench system with six grenades and an M16 rifle. What followed on 1 December 1966 in the Kim Son Valley became one of the most extraordinary individual actions of the Vietnam War, although more than half a century would pass before the United States formally recognized it with the Medal of Honor.

Edward Noboru Kaneshiro was born in Honolulu, Hawaii, in 1928 and grew up as the eighth of sixteen children in a family of Japanese heritage. He spent part of his youth working on the family farm and graduated from Leilehua High School in June 1946. After several years of civilian employment, Kaneshiro enlisted in the United States Army on 2 April 1959, only months before Hawaii became a state. Trained as an infantryman, Military Occupational Specialty 11B, he was assigned to Company C, 1st Battalion, 27th Infantry Regiment, 25th Infantry Division at Schofield Barracks. His Army career also took him on noncombat overseas tours in Okinawa, Japan, and South Korea before he joined Troop C, 1st Squadron, 9th Cavalry Regiment, 1st Cavalry Division.

In July 1966, Kaneshiro deployed to the Republic of Vietnam as a squad leader. Four months later, near Phu Huu 2 in the Kim Son Valley, his courage would be tested at the closest possible range. On the morning of 1 December, two squads from his platoon entered a village without knowing that North Vietnamese troops had prepared an extensive concealed trench and bunker system there. The enemy suddenly opened fire with machine guns and small arms. The platoon leader and point man were killed, four soldiers were wounded, and the remaining men were pinned down under intense fire. Kaneshiro and his squad were operating on more open ground east of the village when they heard the battle erupt.

Kaneshiro immediately understood the danger. Unless the enemy fire from the trench was stopped, the trapped soldiers might not survive. He placed his men under cover and advanced alone. Flattening himself against the ground near the trench, he threw a grenade through the opening of the enemy bunker and eliminated the machine gunner whose weapon had helped trap the American squads. But Kaneshiro did not stop there. With five grenades remaining, he jumped directly into the trench. For roughly 35 meters, he fought his way through the position by himself, destroying one enemy group with rifle fire and two more with grenades. His assault broke the pressure on the pinned soldiers and allowed the surviving members of the platoon to recover their dead and wounded, reorganize, and withdraw from the village.

The official Medal of Honor citation records that Kaneshiro acted with gallantry and intrepidity above and beyond the call of duty and concludes that his “conspicuous gallantry and uncommon heroism under fire” reflected great credit upon himself, his unit, and the United States Army. That language captures the scale of the action, but the circumstances make it even more striking. Kaneshiro was not fighting to gain personal recognition. He was a squad leader who saw fellow soldiers trapped and chose to expose himself so they could survive.

Recognition of that heroism came in stages. Kaneshiro initially received the Silver Star for his actions at Kim Son Valley. After his death, the award was upgraded in October 1967 to the Distinguished Service Cross, the Army's second-highest decoration for valor. Decades later, a review of historic valor awards reopened his case. Congressional action removed the statutory time barrier that had prevented consideration of such long-delayed Medal of Honor recommendations, and Kaneshiro's Distinguished Service Cross was ultimately approved for upgrade. The Silver Star, Distinguished Service Cross, and Medal of Honor therefore represent successive levels of recognition for the same 1 December 1966 action, not three separate acts of valor.

Kaneshiro never lived to see even the Distinguished Service Cross. On 6 March 1967, only three months after his celebrated action, he was killed in Vietnam by a hostile gunshot wound. He was 38 years old. He left behind his wife, Mitsuko, and five children. Their oldest daughter was ten, while their youngest son, John, was only four months old. Kaneshiro was laid to rest at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific in Honolulu, returning in death to the Hawaiian islands where his life and Army career had begun. His combat death is also commemorated by the Purple Heart recorded in his military honors.

His service extended beyond the single action for which he became famous. Kaneshiro's military career encompassed duty with the 25th Infantry Division, overseas service in Japan and South Korea, and combat with the 1st Cavalry Division in Vietnam. His Vietnam service is represented by the Vietnam Service Medal with campaign recognition and the Republic of Vietnam Campaign Medal, while his earlier Cold War service is reflected in his National Defense Service Medal and Korean service entitlement. His accompanying ribbon rack also records his Army Good Conduct Medal and unit recognition earned through his service with the 1st Squadron, 9th Cavalry. Army records confirm his assignments and overseas service, while the official Army awards regulations govern the campaign and service recognition represented by those ribbons.

Kaneshiro also shared in the extraordinary combat record of his unit. Troop C, 1st Squadron, 9th Cavalry, together with the other cited elements of the squadron, received the Presidential Unit Citation for extraordinary heroism in Vietnam from 2 October through 24 October 1966. The presidential citation praised the squadron's aggressive reconnaissance, determination, courage under fire, and repeated engagement of enemy forces despite difficult conditions and numerical opposition. Kaneshiro was serving with Troop C during this period, only weeks before his own Medal of Honor action in the Kim Son Valley.

For decades, however, the nation's highest recognition remained unfinished business. Kaneshiro's family had sought an upgrade of his Distinguished Service Cross since the 1990s. Their efforts finally reached their conclusion on 5 July 2022, when President Joseph R. Biden Jr. posthumously awarded Staff Sergeant Edward N. Kaneshiro the Medal of Honor at the White House. His youngest son, John Kaneshiro, who later followed his father into the Army and retired as a master sergeant, accepted the medal on behalf of the family. Tragically, Mitsuko Kaneshiro died on 10 April 2022, less than three months before the ceremony that finally gave her husband's wartime heroism its highest national recognition.

The following day, Edward Kaneshiro was inducted into the Pentagon Hall of Heroes. He also became the 44th Medal of Honor recipient associated with the 1st Cavalry Division, placing his name permanently within the history of one of the United States Army's most decorated formations. Yet his legacy is larger than a medal, a citation, or a place in a hall of heroes. The defining moment of Edward Noboru Kaneshiro's life came when other soldiers were trapped and he understood exactly what had to be done. He advanced alone, entered the enemy trench, and fought until his comrades had a way out. More than fifty-five years later, the Medal of Honor finally placed the nation's highest title for military valor beside a story that had already earned it on the battlefield.