Medal of Honor Monday: Army Staff Sgt. Kazuo Otani

Friends of Army Staff Sgt. Kazuo Otani knew that he would do anything to help others and prove his allegiance to the United States. So, it was no surprise to many that Otani gave his life during World War II to protect fellow soldiers who were pinned down by enemy fire. His efforts garnered accolades then, but it wasn't until decades later that his heroics were truly recognized as he was bestowed with the Medal of Honor.

Otani was born on June 2, 1918, in Sanger, California, to parents Yoichi and Shizuo Otani, who had emigrated from Japan in the early part of the century. He had two brothers, Ted and Tom.

The family eventually moved about an hour south to Visalia, where the boys grew up. Otani graduated from Visalia Union High School in 1937. He was working on a citrus farm when the Pearl Harbor attacks happened and the U.S. joined World War II, according to a Fresno Bee newspaper article.

Since the Japanese were behind the Pearl Harbor attacks, suspicion and fear regarding Japanese Americans, known as Nisei, became pervasive in the U.S., growing to the point where Nisei were considered enemy aliens and barred from military service. Hundreds of thousands of Japanese American civilians were also relocated into internment camps out of distrust. Otani's family was forced to move to the Gila River War Relocation Center in Arizona.

About a year later, the Army activated the 442nd Regimental Combat Team and the 100th Infantry Battalion, segregated units that were created so Japanese Americans who wanted to prove their allegiance to the U.S. could fight in the European theater of war. Otani volunteered to join the 442nd and trained at Fort Shelby, Mississippi, before deploying to Italy in June 1944. Before he left, he was able to visit his family at the internment camp in Arizona, according to a 2000 Fresno Bee article.

"He was glad to go [to war], in fact. He figured he'd fight for his country," his brother, Ted, said in the article. "He couldn't visit us, not until two weeks before he went overseas. That was the last time we saw him."

When Otani arrived in Italy, the 442nd joined with the 100th in fierce fighting that earned the units several accolades. Over the next two months, soldiers in the 100th received three Distinguished Service Crosses while soldiers in the 442nd received nine - including one for Otani.

On July 15, 1944, Otani was with the 442nd's 2nd Battalion, Company G, near Pieve di Santa Luce when his platoon was pinned down in a wheat field by enemy sniper and machine gun fire. Realizing the danger they were in, Otani left his cover so he could shoot and kill a sniper that was wreaking havoc on the platoon.

He then dashed across the open field toward the foot of a cliff, despite being followed by a hail of machine gun fire. Once he arrived at the cliff, he directed his men to crawl to it for cover. When their movement drew more enemy fire, Otani ran alongside the cliff, exposing himself to draw the fire away from his men, which helped many of them reach cover.

After organizing the men who made it to the cliff to guard against a possible counterattack, Otani again made his way across the open field, shouting instructions to the rest of the stranded platoon as he continued to draw enemy fire.

When Otani got to the rear of the platoon's position, he took partial cover in a shallow ditch and directed cover fire for the remaining men who had begun to move toward the cliff.

During that moment, one of the men became seriously injured and was trapped out in the open in full view of the enemy. Otani ordered the rest of the men to take cover, then crawled to the wounded soldier and dragged him to a shallow ditch, where he began first aid. Otani was shot by machine gun fire as he was doing so and died.

Otani's extraordinary heroism and devotion to duty were honored with the Distinguished Service Cross, which his parents received while still at their detention center in March 1945. The family wasn't released from the camp until about five months later.

When Otani's remains were repatriated to the U.S., he was buried in the Veterans Liberty Cemetery in Fresno, California.

The 442nd Regimental Combat Team was one of the most decorated units in U.S. military history, but very few of the men who served in it initially received Medals of Honor for their actions. In 1996, legislators called for a review of the service records of Asian-American service members from World War II who had received the Distinguished Service Cross. They wanted to determine if any of those men had been passed over for the Medal of Honor due to discrimination of the time.

The investigation revealed prejudice did play a role in the awards selection process. To rectify that injustice, 22 Nisei soldiers were upgraded to the Medal of Honor during a ceremony at the White House on June 21, 2000.

Fifteen of the 22 medals presented were done so posthumously. For those who were no longer living, their families received the nation's highest honor for valor on their behalf, including Otani. His brother, Ted, received the medal from former President Bill Clinton.

A few months after the ceremony, a new grave marker was dedicated at Otani's burial site.

"He would do anything for anybody," said Ken Miyamoto, a friend of Otani's who went through basic training with him and attended the grave dedication. "If anybody needed help, or something to be done, he would do it."

Otani's family eventually donated his medal to the Veterans Memorial Museum in Fresno.

In December 2011, more than 450 Japanese American soldiers from World War II were honored with the Congressional Gold Medal for their heroic actions and loyalty in the face of ethnic discrimination. The medal is the highest award for service that the U.S. can bestow on a civilian.