Born in Los Angeles, California, to Japanese immigrant parents in 1922, Sadao grew up in Glendale and graduated from Abraham Lincoln Senior High School in 1940. In November of 1941, he volunteered for the Army and was inducted in February of 1942. Like all other Japanese-American soldiers, he was removed from combat training and put into menial labor within the United States while the rest of his family were incarcerated at Manzanar. In 1943 he joined the 442nd Regimental Combat Team. Comprised entirely of second-generation Japanese-Americans (called "Nisei"), his unit was designated the 100th infantry. His group was sent to Italy to encounter some of the toughest fighting taking some of the greatest losses with the highest success rate. In the battle for Monte Cassino they went from 1300 to 500 members in a 5 month campaign.Twenty-two members of that group were awarded Medals of Honor. On April 5, 1945. Munemori was with his unit near Seravezza, Italy, pinned down by superior enemy forces in strong positions. His squad leader was wounded, so he chose to make a one-man assault through direct fire and took out two machine guns. He ran back for cover but a grenade thrown at him bounced off his helmet into the shell crater two of his men occupied. He jumped on the grenade, saving their lives at the cost of his own.Sadao gave his life defending his men and a nation that had turned their back on him.
Vito Bertoldo
Vito Bertoldo could well have been the model for the Captain America story. Small and skinny, he tried to join the Army multiple times but was declared 4F because of his eyesight. As the war progressed and their standards fell, he finally got in, but with limited duty. He served as a military policeman and a cook. His regiment was in France in 1945 when the battalion command post came under artillery attack.
Bertoldo stood on guard over 2 command posts against a German infantry and armored force that overran the battalion's main line of resistance. He set up a position in the middle of the street to improve his field of fire and laid there for 12 hours in plain view repelling multiple attacks from small-arms, machine gun, and 88-mm tank gun fire. Then he retreated into the command post and fired through the window. One shell blew him across the room, but he recovered his weapon and went back to work. Two enemy personnel carriers and a tank took position near him, so he waited until more than 20 Germans disgorged from the carriers, then leaned out the window and killed them all while the tank fired at him. When the command post evacuated, he remained behind to cover their retreat, engaging in a day-long battle with multiple waves of enemies. He held off an attack from an 88-mm gun covered by a tank and 15 infantrymen. The gun fired into the building and knocked him down, but when they started to retreat he returned, dazed, and killed several withdrawing troops. While the second command post planned its withdrawal, he ignored the barrage and tossed white phosphorus grenades into the advancing enemy until they retreated. Another tank fired and blew him across the room again, but he recovered his rifle and single-handedly covered the withdrawal for more than 48 hours without rest or relief. All told, he killed more than 40 hostiles, injuring an unknown number, and barely escaped with his life.We honor these men as heroes who gave all they had to protect our freedoms, sometimes even at the cost of their lives. They displayed courage and principles that seem hard to find today.
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