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Kaoru Moto
Kaoru Moto.jpg
Kaoru Moto, Medal of Honor recipient
Born (1917-04-25)April 25, 1917
Makawao, Territory of Hawaii
Died August 26, 1992(1992-08-26) (aged 75)
Makawao, Hawaii
Place of burial
National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific, Honolulu, Hawaii
Allegiance United States of America
Service/branch United States Army
Years of service 1941–1945
Rank Private First Class
Unit 100th Infantry Battalion
Battles/wars World War II
Awards Medal of Honor
Bronze Star
Purple Heart
Croce di Guerra al Valor Militare

Kaoru Moto (April 25, 1917 – August 26, 1992) was a United States Army soldier. He was posthumously awarded the United States military's highest decoration—the Medal of Honor—for his actions in World War II.

Early life

Moto was born in Hawaii to Japanese immigrant parents. He is a Nisei, which means that he is a second generation Japanese-American.

Soldier

Ten months before the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, he joined the US Army in March 1941.

Moto 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.

On July 7, 1944, Moto was serving as a private first class in the 100th Infantry Battalion. On that day, near Castellina Marittima, Italy, he single-handedly silenced two enemy machine gun positions while acting as a scout, and then destroyed a third despite being seriously wounded. For his actions in battle, he was awarded the Army's second-highest decoration, the Distinguished Service Cross.

Moto left the Army while still a private first class. He died at age 75 and was buried at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific in Honolulu, Hawaii.

A 1990s review of service records for Asian Americans who received the Distinguished Service Cross during World War II led to Moto's award being upgraded to the Medal of Honor. In a ceremony at the White House on June 21, 2000, his surviving family was presented with his Medal of Honor by President Bill Clinton. Twenty-one other Asian Americans also received the medal during the ceremony, all but seven of them posthumously.

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