Los Angeles, California, US
U.S. Army
PFC, 442nd Regimental Combat Team, 100th Infantry Battalion
4/5/1945, Seravezza, IT
Sadao “Spud” Munemori was a posthumous recipient of the Medal of Honor, after he sacrificed his life to save those of his colleagues at Seravezza, Italy during the closing stages of World War II. Munemori was a private first class in the United States Army, in Company A, 100th Infantry Battalion, 442nd Regimental Combat Team.
Munemori was born in Los Angeles, California. In 1942, shortly after he volunteered for the U.S. Army, Munemori’s parents and siblings were incarcerated at the Manzanar internment camp for Japanese Americans.
Medal of Honor citation:
“He fought with great gallantry and intrepidity near Seravezza, Italy. When his unit was pinned down by grazing fire from the enemy’s strong mountain defense and command of the squad devolved on him with the wounding of its regular leader, he made frontal, one-man attacks through direct fire and knocked out two machine guns with grenades. Withdrawing under murderous fire and showers of grenades from other enemy emplacements, he had nearly reached a shell crater occupied by two of his men when an unexploded grenade bounced on his helmet and rolled toward his helpless comrades. He arose into the withering fire, dived for the missile and smothered its blast with his body. By his swift, supremely heroic action PFC. Munemori saved two of his men at the cost of his own life and did much to clear the path for his company’s victorious advance.”