Vincent Okamoto Vincent Okamoto ( born November 22 , 1943 in Poston , Arizona ) is a former U . S . Army officer . He is the most highly decorated Japanese American to survive the Vietnam War . Biography . Okamoto was born to an American family of Japanese origin that was interned during the Second World War at the Poston relocation camp in Arizona . He is the youngest of the ten children of Henry and Yone Okamoto . Following the family ' s release they moved to South Chicago , where his parents ran a small grocery store . The family later moved to Gardena , California , when he was twelve years old . He attended Gardena High School , where he served as senior class president . He was a three year letter man in track and football and belonged to the Men ' s Honor Society . US Army and career in Vietnam . Okamoto attended El Camino College from 1962 to 1965 . From 1965 to 1967 he attended U . S . C . receiving a BA in International Relations in 1967 . He enrolled in the ROTC and was the first non - UCLA student to be commissioned through the UCLA ROTC program . He earned his commission as an Army 2nd Lieutenant . After receiving Ranger training he was given orders to report to Viet Nam . In 1968 , Lieutenant Okamoto was assigned as the intelligence - liaison officer for 2 months for the Phoenix Program while attached to Company B of the 2nd Battalion , 25th Infantry Division . Second Lieutenant Okamoto distinguished himself on 24 August 1968 while serving as a platoon leader with an infantry unit near Dau Tieng . A ground attack was launched against his battalion ’ s night location by three reinforced North Vietnamese and Viet Cong companies . The initial assault destroyed a strategic section of the perimeter . Under heavy automatic weapons , small arms and rocket - propelled grenade fire , Lieutenant Okamoto moved five of his men to restore this vital position . Realizing the need for supporting fire , he ran to a partially destroyed armored personnel carrier and manned its machine gun . After the weapon malfunctioned , he dashed through the fusillade of enemy fire to a second and then a third carrier to place suppressing fire on the aggressors . Civilian life . Personal . After returning to civilian life , he enrolled in college and attained his law degree at USC . He also married his sweetheart , Mitzi Nishiyama on December 8 , 1967 . He was also instrumental in establishing the Japanese American Vietnam War Veterans Memorial at the National Japanese American Veterans Memorial Court . Legal . Okamoto spent five years as a prosecutor and eight years practicing law privately . On 15 April 2002 , Governor Gray Davis appointed civil attorney Vincent H . Okamoto to the Los Angeles Superior Court bench . He was honored as the 2006 UCLA Veteran of the Year . Judge Okamoto has continued to serve the community on various Veterans boards , in Gardena city government . Writing . Vincent Okamoto is a novelist as well , having penned " Wolfhound Samurai : A Novel of the Vietnam War " . He is currently finishing up his second publication called " Forged in Fire : The Story of Hershey and Joe " to be released by November 2012 . Please see Nikkei Writers Guild for more information . Honors . Okamoto is the highest - decorated Japanese - American veteran of the Vietnam War . His medals include He was inducted Into Ranger Hall of Fame on September 1 , 2007 . He is the fourth Japanese American ( and first since World War II ) to receive the honor .