Kaoru Moto

He kept fighting after being wounded near Castellina

Kaoru Moto was born on 25 April 1917 at Spreckelsville, Maui, to Japanese immigrant parents. After eighth grade he joined the plantation workforce. He and his younger brother were drafted in March 1941. He initially served in the 298th Infantry in Hawaii. He then joined Company C, 100th Infantry Battalion, a unit composed largely of Americans of Japanese ancestry.

On 7 July 1944, near Castellina Marittima, Italy, he was scouting for his platoon during an advance. He attacked an enemy machine-gun position, killed a gunner and captured another soldier. He then covered his platoon's flank and disrupted another machine-gun crew. A bullet wounded his leg. After dressing the wound himself, he continued fighting, engaged a further gun team and took another prisoner. His initiative protected the Americans during a difficult action against successive enemy positions.

He initially received the Distinguished Service Cross. A later review of awards to Asian American servicemen led to its upgrade, and President Bill Clinton presented his posthumous Medal of Honor on 21 June 2000. Moto had died on Maui on 26 August 1992.

After the Italian fighting he served in France before returning home in 1945. He married Violet Saito in March 1946, and they raised five children. Plantation and other work preceded his appointment as caretaker of Makawao Veterans Cemetery in October 1952. He maintained the cemetery and its flag for more than twenty-six years. Beyond that work he coached and refereed boxing, served the Maui chapter of the 100th veterans' organisation and took leading roles at Paia Mantokuji Mission. He was interred at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific in Honolulu.

The Medal of Honor citation credits his “extraordinary heroism and devotion to duty.”