Masato Nakae

Twice wounded he held his ground against the German assault.

Masato “Curly” Nakae was born on 20 December 1917 in Haena, Kauai, Territory of Hawaii. He entered the United States Army on 8 February 1942 and served in Company A of the 100th Infantry Battalion, a formation of Japanese American soldiers that later became part of the 442nd Regimental Combat Team. Following training in Hawaiʻi and on the mainland, the battalion deployed overseas and entered combat in Italy in September 1943.

The 100th Battalion fought through the Cassino and Anzio sectors. Nakae was wounded in Italy in May 1944 and was seriously wounded again near Pisa on 19 August 1944. His Medal of Honor action rank was Private; the descendants' roster records his later rank as Private First Class.

During the attack near Pisa, a shell fragment damaged his submachine gun. Nakae seized an M1 rifle belonging to a wounded comrade and fired rifle grenades at the advancing German troops. He then threw six hand grenades, forcing the enemy to withdraw. A renewed attack was preceded by mortar fire that severely wounded him, but he continued defending his position. His resistance helped break up the enemy assault.

Nakae originally received the Distinguished Service Cross for this action. A later review of decorations awarded to Asian American soldiers led to its upgrade to the Medal of Honor. The original cross was superseded, rather than becoming a second wearable decoration for the same action.

Nakae died in Kaneohe, Hawaii, on 4 September 1998. President Bill Clinton presented the Medal of Honor posthumously to his daughter, Anna Kuroda, at the White House on 21 June 2000. He is buried at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific in Honolulu. Camp Darby in Italy dedicated a square in his honor in 2006.