DSC Citation, Posthumous Award of Distinguished Service Cross for Kazuo Masuda, Headquarters 5th Army, 08/04/1945
date: label: date made
content: 08/04/1945
notes: label: Description
content: This DSC Citation letter is a posthumous award of a Distinguished Service Cross to Staff Sergeant Kazuo Masuda, Infantry, United States Army.
label: Description
content: Kazuo Masuda was born on November 30th, 1918 in Westminster, California. He spent a couple years with his family in Tustin, then transferred to Fountain Valley and graduated from the old Fountain Valley Elementary School. Masuda graduated high school from Huntington Beach Highschool in 1936 and spent the next few years working for his family on their farm.
label: Description
content: Masuda was inducted into the United States Army on October 16th, 1941 when the peacetime draft began. Masuda was doing basic training at Ford Ord, California, when the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor happened. Following this, President Franklin Roosevelt signed Executive Order 9066, which forcibly relocated persons of Japanese ancestry to prison camps for the duration of World War II. 100,000 Japanese Americans were relocated and sent to camps in California, Arizona, Idaho, Wyoming, Colorado, Utah, and Arkansas. Masuda's family was sent to Jerome Camp, Arkansas, and then later transferred to the Gila River camp in Arizona when Jerome closed down.
label: Description
content: Because of the war, Masuda was barred from serving active duty (like all other nisei) until the 442nd Regimental Combat Team unit was formed. On February 1, 1943, the 442nd Regimental Combat Team was activated and Masuda was assigned to "F" Company, 2nd Battalion of the 442nd Combat Unit and sent to Italy where he was killed in action.
label: Description
content: The letter talks about his heroism in action on the day of July 6, 1944. On that day, Staff Sergeant Masuda crawled two hundred yards to the mortar section, secured a mortar tube and ammunition and returned to his observation post which was under heavy mortar and artillery barrages. Staff Sergeant Masuda singlehandedly directed effecitve fire on the enemy for twelve straight hours and repulsed two major enemy counterattacks. On August 27, 1944, Staff Sergeant Masuda led two men on a night patrol across the Arno River, through mined and booby-trapped territory. He ordered his two men to stay behind while he crawled forward and discovered the enemy had surrounded them. He realized that he was trapped, and ordered his two men to withdraw while he engaged two enemy automatic weapons. Staff Sergeant Masuda sacrificed his life to save his comrades from death, and they were able to deliver valuable information to aid the troops in crossing the Arno River.
label: Description
content: This letter was presented to Staff Sergeant Masuda's next-of-kin, which happened to be his mother. This award letter was sent from the Headquarters of the Fifth Army from the Second District of the Department of California of Veterans of Foreign Wars.
label: Location
content: Currently not on view
setName: label: See more items in
content: Military and Society: Armed Forces History, Japanese American
creditLine: label: Credit Line
content: Masao Masuda
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: National Museum of American History
identifier: label: ID Number
content: 2015.0105.006
label: accession number
content: 2015.0105
label: catalog number
content: 2015.0105.006
objectType: label: Object Name
content: Letter
label: Object Name
content: letter
physicalDescription: label: Physical Description
content: paper (overall material)
label: Physical Description
content: ink (overall material)
label: Measurements
content: overall: 10 1/4 in x 8 in; 26.035 cm x 20.32 cm
label: Measurements
content: overall: 4 in x 9 1/4 in; 10.16 cm x 23.495 cm