Four Seattle WWII veterans knighted in France
Sep 2, 2012, 2:24 PM | Updated: 3:53 pm
In a ceremony Saturday, France presented four local World War II veterans with the Legion of Honor, its highest award, in recognition of their service to the country.
The soldiers belonged to the all-Japanese American 442nd Regimental Combat Team. The group famously lost 216 men in order to save 211 Texas soldiers who were surrounded by Germans. Over 850 men were wounded in the battle.
The veterans, Frank Matsuda, Jimmy Yamaguchi, William Yasutake, and Frank Nishimura were presented the award September 1 by Jack Cowan, an honorary consul of France.
“You rescued people you did not know,” said Cowan at the award ceremony, “but you can be certain that those people have not forgotten you.”
The men remembered the fighting almost 68 years ago in the northern French town of Bruyeres, where the battle was thick and deadly.
“All we could do is hide behind trees and crawl, but boy there was a lot of gunfire – machine guns,” Matsuda told KING-5 news, “they killed quite a few guys.”
The award makes each veteran a knight, or chevalier, of France.
In June, the Republic of France also honored Harry Nyhus, a retired dentist from Magnolia, for his service in the Army’s 99th Infantry Battalion of Norwegian American ski paratroopers.
The French government is currently looking for other men who may have served in France during World War II.
Jillian Raftery contributed to this report.
