One of the most common lies a false claimant to military honors or decorations will tell people is, \u201cMy medal is classified; that\u2019s why there aren’t any records of it.\u201d<\/p>\n
Yes, that\u2019s complete bullshit.\u00a0 Medals and decorations are not classified, nor are their citations.\u00a0 And there are always<\/em> records of legitimate awards and decorations.<\/p>\n But there actually was a classified Medal of Honor, once \u2013 some 60+ years ago.\u00a0 Or, more precisely:\u00a0 the fact that the Medal of Honor had been awarded to a particular individual was classified.\u00a0 \u00a0And that singular example was declassified after a period of a bit over 2 years.<\/p>\n —<\/p>\n Korea in 1951 was a rather \u201chot\u201d place.\u00a0 The Korean War was in full swing.\u00a0 During that summer, things would settle into an effective stalemate along lines fairly close to today\u2019s DMZ between the two Koreas.\u00a0 However, prior to stalemate the Chinese decided to make one more attempt to conquer South Korea during the spring of that year.\u00a0 That attempt was the 1951 Chinese Spring Offensive.<\/p>\n One of the US units involved defending against that Chinese offensive was the 7th Infantry Regiment, 3rd Infantry Division.\u00a0 They fought north of Seoul during the spring of 1951.<\/p>\n Corporal Hiroshi H. Miyamura was assigned to H Company, 7th Infantry Regiment.\u00a0 As one would expect from his name, CPL Miyamura was of Japanese-American ancestry; he was a second-generation Japanese-American.\u00a0 In January 1945, he\u2019d joined the Army and had volunteered for the 100th Infantry Battalion (an all-Nisei unit). He’d been discharged from the Army at the end of World War II, but had later reenlisted. He’d been sent to Korea with the 7th Infantry Regiment.<\/p>\n On the night of 24-25 April 1951, H Company of the 7th Infantry Regiment was attacked by overwhelming Chinese forces and was forced to withdraw.\u00a0 During that withdrawal, CPL Miyamura performed heroic acts resulting in his being awarded the Medal of Honor.<\/p>\n His Medal of Honor citation can be found here<\/a> (you\u2019ll have to search for his name, as this is a consolidated list from the Korean War and CPL Miyamura\u2019s citation is a bit more than 1\/2 way down the page).\u00a0 It speaks for itself more eloquently than anything I can say.\u00a0 Other accounts elsewhere give more detail concerning his actions during that engagement – in particular, this one from Doug Sterner’s Home of Heroes web site<\/a> is excellent.\u00a0 But IMO, a single sentence from the citation tells you all you need to know regarding his heroism:<\/p>\n “When the intensity of the attack necessitated the withdrawal of the company Cpl. Miyamura ordered his men to fall back while he remained to cover their movement.”<\/em><\/p>\n CPL Miyamura knowingly sacrificed himself in order to buy time for his unit’s escape.\u00a0 “No greater love . . . .”<\/p>\n After finally being driven from his position and escape-and-evading a short distance, CPL Miyamura was taken prisoner\u00a0 by Chinese forces.\u00a0 He then spent the next 28 months in captivity.<\/p>\n Death might have been more merciful.<\/p>\n However, others in his unit had seen CPL Miyamura’s heroic acts before they withdrew.\u00a0 They notified the chain of command.\u00a0 During his captivity, he was recommended for the Medal of Honor.\u00a0 The recommendation was approved.<\/p>\n This decision to award CPL Miyamura the Medal of Honor created a problem for the Army and the US Government. CPL Miyamura’s status was not initially known; however, after some time he was identified as a POW held by the North Koreans.\u00a0 As a result, the US decided to classify the fact of CPL Miyamura\u2019s Medal of Honor temporarily.\u00a0 The classification of that fact would end when he was repatriated.<\/p>\n After the cessation of hostilities in Korea, CPL Miyamura was repatriated at Panmumjom on 23 August 1953.\u00a0 Shortly afterwards he was met by BG Ralph Osborne of the 3rd Infantry Division.<\/p>\n