"Private Joe Hayashi distinguished himself by extraordinary heroism in
action on 20 and 22 April 1945, near Tendola, Italy. On 20 April 1945,
ordered to attack a strongly defended hill that commanded all approaches
to the village of Tendola, Private Hayashi skillfully led his men to a
point within 75 yards of enemy positions before they were detected and
fired upon. After dragging his wounded comrades to safety, he returned
alone and exposed himself to small arms
fire in order to direct and adjust mortar fire against hostile
emplacements. Boldly attacking the hill with the remaining men of his
squad, he attained his objective and discovered that the mortars had
neutralized three machine guns, killed 27 men, and wounded many others.
On 22 April 1945, attacking the village of Tendola, Private Hayashi
maneuvered his squad up a steep, terraced hill to within 100 yards of
the enemy. Crawling under intense fire to a hostile machine gun
position, he threw a grenade, killing one enemy soldier and forcing the
other members of the gun crew to surrender. Seeing four enemy machine
guns delivering deadly fire upon other elements of his platoon, he threw
another grenade, destroying a machine gun nest. He then crawled to the
right flank of another machine gun position where he killed four enemy
soldiers and forced the others to flee. Attempting to pursue the enemy,
he was mortally wounded by a burst of machine pistol
fire. The dauntless courage and exemplary leadership of Private Hayashi
enabled his company to attain its objective. Private Hayashi's
extraordinary heroism and devotion to duty are in keeping with the
highest traditions of military service and reflect great credit on him,
his unit, and the United States Army."
From Pvt. Hayashi's Medal of Honor citation, awarded on June 21, 2000.
His bravery finally acknowledged,
Brian & Mel
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