Just over 50 years ago, James “Juppy” Kawamura’s army platoon was on the verge of being overrun by a company of North Koreans in the mountainous region of Chindeng-ni. In those early days of the Korean War, which started June
Just over 50 years ago, James “Juppy” Kawamura’s army platoon was on the verge
of being overrun by a company of North Koreans in the mountainous region of
Chindeng-ni.
In those early days of the Korean War, which started June 25,
1950, the scant American forces that were in Korea were being forced
back-battle after battle-to the edge of the Sea of Japan.
It should have
been the same for Kawamura’s platoon, part of E company of the Army’s 5th
Regimental Combat Team, a Hawaiian-based regiment that was one of the first to
be sent into combat.
But on that day-Aug. 7, 1950-Kawamura, then an
18-year-old private from Port Allen-made a decision to stand his ground.
“I
remember giving covering fire to my foxhole buddy who was beginning to panic,”
said Kawamura. “I was in a state of shock and kept on fighting for my
life.”
As his fellow platoon members withdrew to a more defensible
position, Kawamura dug into a foxhole on a ridge above the advancing North
Koreans and drew their fire with his automatic rifle.
“He sacrificed his
location, and like Rambo, he diverted the whole attack onto himself,” said Bill
Honjiyo, president of the Kaua’i Veteran Council.
Kawamura called out to
the North Koreans in Japanese, “Come and get me if you want to die.”
When
the Koreans would call back or try to advance, he would target their position
and fire. From the few eyewitnesses that lived to tell about the action,
Kawamura killed at least 25 enemy soldiers.
“There must have been many
more because when you are spraying bullets in an area infested with soldiers,
you are bound to hit a bunch,” said Kawamura’s platoon sergeant, James
Browning.
Even after he had run out of ammunition, Kawamura held the hill,
yelling and hollering as he did.
“I don’t know how many enemy I killed or
wounded, and I don’t know how long the attack took or when I was out of
ammunition and grenades,” he said. “All I remember was it was late afternoon
when the rest of my squad and platoon came back to relieve me.”
As the
North Korean company retreated, they left behind machine guns and other
equipment.
For holding the hill that day, Kawamura was awarded one of 27
Distinguished Service Crosses given out within the 5th Regimental Combat Team.
But folks like Honjiyo say that that award should be upgraded.
As early as
next month, Honjiyo plans to submit the materials, along with eyewitnesses’
statements, as a request for Kawamura’s upgrade to a Medal of Honor, the
highest award given out by the military.
“Juppy was a regimental hero,”
said Honjiyo, who himself served two tours in Vietnam. “And what happened on
Aug. 7 was not just a flash in the pan.”
He pointed to the very next week
in 1950, when E Company was attacked by T-34s, heavily armored Russian-built
tanks. Kawamura picked up a bazooka and responded, stopping one of the tanks.
The smoking tank then returned fire with an 80mm cannon.
The blast knocked
off Kawamura’s helmet and shrapnel embedded itself in his head. Kawamura pulled
a piece of shrapnel out himself, but when he went back to get more ammunition,
his platoon sergeant sent him to the evacuation hospital to get patched
up.
“By patch, I mean they put a steel plate in his head, and a week later
he was back in action,” Honjiyo said.
“That guy was born to be a soldier –
a real warrior,” he added.
Honjiyo said kids his age growing up in Hanapepe
looked up to Kawamura, five years his senior.
Kawamura was born and raised
in Port Allen. He was expelled from Mid-Pacific High School for smoking
cigarettes.
“After they kicked me out, I joined the Army,” Kawamura said,
“The Army was real nice to me.”
After returning from Korea, Kawamura
qualified for the G.I. Bill and was able to attend the University of Hawai’i,
where he studied to be a draftsman.
On a recent day while enjoying a
refreshment with Honjiyo and other veterans at Wong’s Chinese Restaurant in
Hanapepe, Kawamura said he doesn’t remember much about that fateful battle in
Korea.
“It was a long time ago,” he said.
He does remember a thing or
two about the enemy he faced.
“Everybody hated the North Koreans and the
Chinese,” Kawamura said. “I don’t know, but I think they were good adversaries,
because they fought with what they had. They didn’t have artillery like we
had.”
Honjiyo said it has taken him and his team two and a half years to
research Kawamura’s case and prepare all the materials.
The hardest part
was finding living eyewitnesses, he said. Kawamura’s platoon leader, the person
who would usually make such a recommendation, was killed the day Kawamura held
the ridge.
Browning, Kawamura’s platoon sergeant, said things became
confused after he took over command. He sent a letter recommending Kawamura for
the Medal of Honor, but was unable to follow up to see what actually
happened.
“At that time, things were so intense that awards of any kind did
not seem to be all that important,” Browning wrote. “Living one more hour was
all that was important on most of our minds.”
The time to make such a
request is running out, Honjiyo said.
“We have to put this all in the
annals of history,” he said. “In the next 20 years, nobody will even
remember.”
Deputy editor Brandon Sprague can be reached at 245-3618
(ext. 226) and bsprague@pulitzer.net
