Gallup's 'humble hero' is honored

Minoru Tonai from Los Angeles, a member of the Japanese American Korean War Veterans group, gets emotional while listening to the story about how Hiroshi Miyamura earned the Medal of Honor. [Photo by Matt Hinshaw/Independent]

By Elizabeth Hardin-Burrola
Staff Writer

Hiroshi "Hershey" Miyamura waves to friends after the unveiling of his Medal of Honor Monument in the Veterans Memorial Plaza on Saturday evening. Many political officials turned out along with the Japanese American Korean War veterans to honor Miyamura. [Photo by Matt Hinshaw/Independent]

GALLUP — Vincent Okamoto was 10 years old when he first heard of Hiroshi "Hershey" Miyamura.

One of Okamoto's older brothers handed him a Japanese American newspaper and said, "Here, read about a real hero." The 1953 newspaper article was about President Dwight D. Eisenhower presenting Miyamura, a Gallup native, with the Medal of Honor for his heroism in the Korean War, during which he was a prisoner of war for 28 months.

Okamoto never forgot about that newspaper article, and he never forgot about Miyamura. When Okamoto was serving in the Vietnam War "an insane world where nightmares became reality" thoughts of Miyamura's courage and dedication pulled him through moments of despair.

On Saturday evening in Gallup, decades after both the Korean War and the Vietnam War, Okamoto now a Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge and the most highly decorated Japanese American veteran from the Vietnam War stood on the McKinley County Courthouse Square and paid tribute to Miyamura as one of the "bravest of the brave."

City, county, and state officials, along with the assistance of the Japanese American Korean War Veterans, organized Saturday's tribute dedication ceremony for Miyamura. As State Rep. Patty Lundstrom explained, the ceremony was the conclusion to the Memorial Day dedication of the Veterans Park in the new Courthouse Square.

Miyamura had not been able to attend the Memorial Day ceremony, so Saturday's ceremony was organized to dedicate the Veterans Park pillar which solely honors Miyamura. Several hundred people, including state and local officials, community members, Miyamura's family, numerous veterans, and a members of the JAKWV from California, attended the tribute ceremony.</sub>Devotion to dutyAccording to the Medal of Honor citation, Miyamura, who was a corporal in the U.S. Army's Company H, 7th Infantry Regiment, 3rd Infantry Division, displayed "indomitable heroism and consummate devotion to duty" during a battle with Chinese forces on April 24, 1951. Miyamura, a machine-gun squad leader, killed at least 10 enemy soldiers in hand-to-hand combat and another 50 with machine-gun fire before being severely wounded and taken prisoner. Because of Miyamura's heroism, the other American soldiers in his company were able to fall back to safety.

Okamoto, the dedication ceremony's keynote speaker, quoted Jesus' words from John 15:13, "Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends." Contrary to the notion that soldiers fight out of hatred for the enemy, Okamoto said, soldiers like Miyamura fight out of loyalty and love for their fellow soldiers.

Miyamura, with his "heroic one man's stand," belongs in the"pantheon of heros," said Okamoto, who told the audience they could tell their grandchildren that on this day they "were present at a roll call of heros."

Soldiers who experience combat walk through a door that civilians can never enter, said Okamoto, who complimented local officials for creating the Veterans Park and for honoring Miyamura.

"This plaza is a hallowed place,"added Okamoto of the park, which he described as a place of healing for veterans and their families.

Okamoto reminded the audience that American soldiers killed in action were individuals who had hopes and dreams, who had families and friends who loved them, and who wanted to live their lives as much as anyone else. Americans need to remember, he said, that "freedom isn't free" but is "purchased for them by the blood of others."

Okamoto and other speakers at the ceremony reminded the audience that Japanese Americans have served in the United States military honorably for decades. To date, several Japanese American soldiers have died in the current war in Iraq.

Okamoto, who was born in a Japanese internment camp during World War II, directed biting criticism toward the United States government's treatment of Japanese Americans during that war. Okamoto's comments seemed to reflect more the painful experiences his family endured, as well as the families represented by the visiting Japanese American veterans from California, rather than the experiences of Japanese American families in Gallup.

Humble heroIn his own speech, Miyamura said that he and his siblings were very grateful that their parents chose to settle in Gallup. During World War II, he said, the people of Gallup signed a petition stating the two dozen Japanese American families in Gallup were loyal citizens and belonged here.

Those Gallup families were never sent to an internment camp although they did have personal property like radios, cameras, and firearms confiscated by the government. And Miyamura's wife, Terry, who is not originally from Gallup, came from a family that was interned during the war.

Just as Mayor Bob Rosebrough described Miyamura as "our humble hero," speaker after speaker talked about Miyamura's reputation for being quiet, modest, unassuming, and yet a highly respected.

And in typical Miyamura fashion, during his own speech, Miyamura deflected the attention away from himself and toward others. He pointed to the contributions of other veterans who have never received any public recognition, he named each and every Japanese American veteran from Gallup who enlisted in the military during World War II, and he thanked a lengthy list of people who had helped establish the Veterans Park and organize Saturday's ceremony.

"My family and I cannot thank you enough for making this day possible," he said. And to the amusement of the audience, he added, "I would have preferred that you would have waited till I was gone."

Prior to the official unveiling of the Miyamura pillar and the conclusion of the ceremony, state official John Garcia, acting as a representative of Gov. Bill Richardson, talked about the elite stature of Medal of Honor recipients. Whereas it is always required protocol that people stand when an American president enters a room, he explained, it is also required protocol that an American president is required to stand in the presence of a Medal of Honor recipient.

As one of New Mexico's only three living Medal of Honor recipients, Garcia said, Miyamura is a state treasure. "This man is truly a legacy in the state of New Mexico," he said.

Reporter Elizabeth Hardin-Burrola can be contacted at (505) 863-6811 ext. 218 or ehardinburrola@yahoo.com.