This Day in History: George Sakato's Bravery in France
- tara
- 1 day ago
- 4 min read
On this day in 1944, a soldier engages in an action that would earn him the Medal of Honor. Private George “Joe” Sakato would not receive his Medal until nearly 56 years after his action. Even then, he was stunned.
“I couldn’t believe they were going to give me the Medal of Honor,” he said, noting that he only ever saw 90 days of combat. “I was just a recruit. I was just a raw private.”
But it was even more than that. When Sakato joined the Army, he was short and somewhat puny. “[H]e was too puny even to carry his own gear,” the Los Angeles Times explained in 2015. “When they marched uphill, buddies carried his pack for him.”
Why was such a puny man in the Army? As a Japanese-American, he had joined the Army partly to prove his loyalty to our country in the wake of Pearl Harbor. Along with others of Japanese descent, he was a member of the 442nd Regimental Combat Team, dispatched to Europe because they were not trusted to serve in the Pacific during World War II.
“We had to show our loyalty to the United States,” Sakato explained years later. “We had to show ourselves that we were going to fight for our country, whether we lived or died.”
Which is how Sakato came to be in eastern France on October 29, 1944. Along with the rest of the 442nd, he was working his way through the Vosges Forest, part of an effort to free the so-called Lost Battalion, trapped behind enemy lines.
As part of this effort, Sakato’s unit was to take Hill 617 near Biffontaine, France.
At first, it was going well. Our soldiers had taken the enemy off guard by sneaking up the back of a ridge and chasing them off. But then the Germans counterattacked.
“[T]he artillery starts coming in,” Sakato explained, “so we had to jump into the Germans’ [abandoned] foxholes this time.” He fired 60 rounds of ammunition during that attack, but then there was a lull.
Sakato began reloading, but he could see a group of Germans carrying machine guns higher up the hill. Unfortunately, his friend, nearby, stood up to get a better view of the machine guns: He was immediately hit. Sakato rushed to his friend, picking him up and exclaiming: “Why? Why? Why? Why did you stand up?” It was too late. “He went limp on me, and I knew he had died.”
Sakato felt rage course through his body. “I was so mad. I cried—and ran up that hill. Where I got the energy to run that hill . . . I never had before.” Sakato didn’t think he was a hero for what he did in those moments. “Nowadays, they call what I did road rage,” he reportedly shrugged.
Either way, Sakato launched a one-man assault that would turn the tide of the fighting that day.
Running straight into enemy fire, he ultimately killed 12 of the enemy and personally captured four. Just as importantly, he inspired those around him. Our soldiers soon took the hill, having captured 34 Germans, in total.
This victory, combined with others, ultimately led to the rescue of the Lost Battalion.
As for Sakato, he at first received a Distinguished Service Cross, but a review of awards in the 1990s determined that he should have received a Medal of Honor instead.
Sakato was fortunately still alive to receive the Medal at a June 2000 ceremony.
“How I got the medal,” he said, “I don’t know . . . . Others deserve this much more. But I’ll take it for the guys who didn’t come back.”
Yet another humble member of the Greatest Generation, giving his all, then thinking nothing of it.
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Primary Sources:
American Valor: George Sakato (PBS website)
Denver Post Office Recognizes Medal of Honor Recipient George Sakato (USPS; Nov. 8, 2013)
Erik Slavin, Recognition Comes Long Overdue for Japanese-American Veterans (Fairborn Daily Herald; June 19, 2013) (p. 30)
George “Joe” Sakato, American hero, dies at 94 (Denver Post; Dec. 5, 2015)
George Sakato 442nd Regimental Combat Team (National WWII Museum; April 21, 2020)
Japanese American Military Experience Database: George Taro “Joe” Sakato (Discover Nikkei)
Jill Leovy, WWII Vet Received the Medal of Honor (Los Angeles Times; Dec. 6, 2015) (p. B8)
Marcella Fleming & Rob Schneider, For Valor in Battle, at Long Last (Indianapolis Star; July 1, 2000) (p. A1)
Medal of Honor citation (George Sakato; WWII)
Medal of Honor oral history (George Sakato; WWII)
Medal of Honor Recipient George Joe Sakato passes (Japanese American Veterans Association)
Medal of Honor Recipient George T. Sakato Passes Away at 94 (Congressional Medal of Honor Society press release; Dec. 3, 2015)
The 442d Regimental Combat Team (National Museum of the U.S. Army)
War Hero for a Nation that Feared His People (Star Tribune; Dec. 5, 2015) (p. B4)