Yeiki Kobashigawa facts for kids
- In this Japanese name, the family name is Kobashigawa.
Yeiki Kobashigawa (September 28, 1917-March 31, 2005) was a United States Army soldier. He received the Medal of Honor because of his actions in World War II.
Early life
Kobashigawa was born at Hilo, Hawaii. He is the son of immigrants who were born in Japan. He is a Nisei, which means that he is a second generation Japanese-American.
Soldier
One month before the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, Kobashigawa joined the US Army in November 1941.
Kobashigawa volunteered to be part of the all-Nisei 100th Infantry Battalion. This army unit was mostly made up of Japanese Americans from Hawaii and the mainland.
For his actions in June 1944, Kobashigawa was awarded the Army's second-highest decoration, the Distinguished Service Cross (DSC). In the 1990s, there was a review of service records of Asian Americans who received the DSC during World War II. Kobashigawa's award was upgraded to the Medal of Honor. In a ceremony at the White House on June 21, 2000, he was presented with his medal by President Bill Clinton. Twenty-one other Asian Americans also received the medal during the ceremony, but only seven of them were still alive.
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