


William Nakamura
Surname | Nakamura |
Given Name | William |
Born | 21 Jan 1922 |
Died | 4 Jul 1944 |
Country | United States |
Category | Military-Ground |
Gender | Male |
Contributor: C. Peter Chen
ww2dbaseWilliam Kenzo Nakamura was born in Seattle, Washington, United States in 1922 to Japanese immigrants. He attended the Washington Middle School and graduated from Garfield High School, both in Seattle, and then attended the University of Washington. During WW2, in 1942, he and his family were interned at the Minidoka War Relocation Center in Idaho, United States on the basis of their ancestry. He enlisted in the United States Army in Jul 1943 and volunteered for the 442nd Regimental Combat Team consisting of Japanese-Americans. On 4 Jul 1944, near Castellina Marittima in the Toscana region of Italy, Private First Class Nakamura's platoon was pinned down by German machine gun fire. He crawled 20 yards toward the source of the machine gun fire and threw four hand grenades, killing or wounding at least three Germans and silencing the machine gun. In the afternoon on the same day, he volunteered to stay back to cover a withdrawal of his platoon from advancing Germans; he successfully pinned down a German machine position that was threatening the withdrawal, but in the process he was struck down and killed. He was buried in Evergreen-Washelli Memorial Park in Seattle. He was awarded the Distinguished Service Cross for his sacrifice that day. In 1990, his Distinguished Service Cross was upgraded to the Medal of Honor, the highest American military award. In Jun 2000, Nakamura's surviving family was presented with the Medal of Honor by US President Bill Clinton at the White House in Washington DC, United States.
ww2dbaseSource: Wikipedia
Last Major Revision: Jun 2025
William Nakamura 互動地圖
Photographs
![]() |
William Nakamura Timeline
1922年1月21日 | William Nakamura was born in Seattle, Washington, United States. |
1944年7月4日 | American soldier William Nakamura volunteered to stay behind to cover his platoon's retreat near Castellina Marittima, Italy. Discovering that a German machine gun position was threatening the withdraw, he crawled toward it and fired on the Germans to temporarily silence the machine gun. He was killed by the German return fire shortly after. He was awarded the Distinguished Service Cross posthumously. |
2000年6月21日 | Mikio Hasemoto, Joe Hayashi, Robert Kuroda, Kaoru Moto, Kiyoshi Muranaga, Masato Nakae, Shinyei Nakamine, William Nakamura, Joe Nishimoto, James Okubo, Frank Ono, Kazuo Otani, Ted Tanouye, and Francis Wai's Distinguished Service Cross medals were posthumously upgraded to the Medal of Honor, and the medals were presented to surviving family members at a ceremony at the White House, Washington DC, United States. |
請考慮透過 Patreon 支持本站。任何數量都會有莫大幫助!感謝您的支持。 請幫助宣傳: 訂閱 WW2DB,掌握最新動態: |

» Advance to the Gothic Line
- » 1,182 人物傳記
- » 337 事件
- » 45,119 時間軸條目
- » 1,248 軍艦
- » 350 飛機型號
- » 207 車輛型號
- » 376 兵器型號
- » 123 史料文件
- » 261 設施
- » 470 書評
- » 28,410 照片
- » 365 地圖
Lt. Gen. Lewis B. "Chesty" Puller, at Guadalcanal