Edward N Kaneshiro

Edward was born in Honolulu, Hawaii, on the 22nd of July, 1928, and he grew up on his family’s farm about twenty-five minutes north of Honolulu. He was the eighth child of sixteen and he attended and graduated from Leilehua High School in 1946. Thirteen years later, Edward enlisted into the US Army and was assigned to Company C, 1st Battalion, 27th Infantry Regiment, 25th Infantry Division, near where he grew up. His first deployment was a non-combat tour to Okinawa, Japan, and to South Korea, and he was then deployed in support of the Vietnam War in 1966. It was his actions there that would earn him the Distinguished Service Cross, now upgraded to the Medal of Honor. The citation reads:

Staff Sergeant Edward N. Kaneshiro distinguished himself by acts of gallantry and intrepidity above and beyond the call of duty while serving as an Infantry Squad Leader with Troop C, 1st Squadron, 9th Cavalry, 1st Cavalry Division near Phu Huu 2, Kim Son Valley, Republic of Vietnam, on 1 December 1966. Not knowing that the village was heavily fortified with a fully bunkered and concealed trench system and garrisoned by North Vietnamese troops in vastly superior force, two squads of the platoon had deployed to its center, while Staff Sergeant Kaneshiro and his squad scouted the more open terrain to the east of the village. Sensing the opportunity to ambush the Infantry squads, the entrenched enemy force erupted with machine gun and small arms fire against the two squads at the center of the village, killing the platoon leader and the point man, wounding four others, then successfully suppressing the surviving soldiers. Staff Sergeant Kaneshiro moved with his men to the sounds of the fire. Swiftly reading the situation, seeing that the fire from the trench had to be stopped if anyone was to survive, he first deployed his men to cover, then crawled forward to attack the enemy force alone. He began by throwing grenades from the parapet while flattened to the ground, successfully throwing the first grenade through the aperture of the bunker, eliminating the machine gunner who had opened the action.  With five grenades remaining and his rifle to sustain his assault, Staff Sergeant Kaneshiro jumped into the trench to sweep its length where it fronted the two pinned squads. Over the distance of about 35 meters, he worked the ditch alone, destroying one enemy group with rifle fire and two others with grenades. By the end of his sweep, the able-bodied survivors of the two squads were again standing and preparing to move the dead and wounded. Staff Sergeant Kaneshiro's actions enabled the orderly extrication and reorganization of the platoon which ultimately led to a successful withdrawal from the village. Staff Sergeant Kaneshiro's conspicuous gallantry and uncommon heroism under fire were in keeping with the highest traditions of the military service and reflect great credit upon himself, his unit, and the United States Army.

Edward’s Distinguished Service Cross was issued to him on the 26th of October 1967, though Edward would not live to physically receive it. He was killed in action seven months earlier, on the 6th of March 1967, at the age of 38. Edward’s wife, Mitsuko, was left to raise their five children by herself, with their youngest child (John) being four months old. On the 27th of June 2022, the White House announced that his Distinguished Service Cross would be upgraded to the Medal of Honor and on the 5th of July, John (who also served in the Army) received his father’s Medal of Honor from President Biden. Two days later, Edward was inducted into the Pentagon’s Hall of Heroes along with three other Vietnam recipients. Edward Noboru Kaneshiro is buried in the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific in Honolulu, Hawaii: Section W, Site 262. His wife joined him on the 10th of April 2022, and his name appears on the National Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington DC: Panel 16E, Line 28.