fullname death_date birth_place nationality medaltemplates birth_date image article_title strokes name
河石 達吾 17 march 1945 etajima , hiroshima , japan japan men 's swimming 10 december 1911 tatsugo_kawaishi . jpg tatsugo kawaishi
 freestyle tatsugo kawaishi
tatsugo kawaishi

a native of Ōgaki , hiroshima -lrb- currently part of the city of etajima , hiroshima -rrb- , kawaishi was a graduate of the law school of keio university , and began competitive swimming as a student .
selected for the japanese olympic team in the 1932 los angeles olympics , he won a silver medal in the 100 m freestyle event ; however , his achievement was overshadowed by his teammate yasuji miyazaki , who won the gold medal and who set a new olympic record .
after his return to japan , he became an instructor at the imperial japanese naval academy from 1933-1935 .
he then moved to osaka , and was employed by the forerunner of kansai electric ; however , he then enlisted in the imperial japanese army and was accepted into the hiroshima-based ija 11th infantry regiment .
he was sent to serve on the front lines in china during the second sino-japanese war and was promoted to first lieutenant after five years .
upon is discharge , he returned to work at kansai electric ; however , during the pacific war , as the situation worsened for japan , he was recalled to active duty in june 1944 and was assigned to the garrison at iwo jima , where general tadamichi kuribayashi made him commander of the northern district of the island .
he was killed in combat during the battle of iwo jima on march 17 , 1945 and was posthumously promoted to captain .
