Private Toshiaki Fujimoto (1917-1943), killed in action at Caiazzo, Italy on Oct. 18, 1943 while serving with the U.S. Army’s 100th Infantry Battalion, was the first person born and raised on Kaua‘i killed in combat during World War II. Another
Private Toshiaki Fujimoto (1917-1943), killed in action at Caiazzo, Italy on Oct. 18, 1943 while serving with the U.S. Army’s 100th Infantry Battalion, was the first person born and raised on Kaua‘i killed in combat during World War II.
Another 100th Battalion soldier born on Kaua‘i, Cpl. George F. Ishii, had been killed earlier on Sept. 30, 1943, but he had moved to O‘ahu when he was young and had no close relatives living on Kaua‘i.
At the time of Fujimoto’s death, his unit, which was composed almost entirely of Americans of Japanese ancestry from Hawai‘i, had been fighting German soldiers around Volturno in Italy during the Salerno-to-Cassino campaign.
In connection with the Volturno fighting, Gen. Mark Clark, allied commander in Italy, later wrote: “I should mention that a bright spot in this period was the performance of the 100th Battalion, which had recently been assigned to the 34th Division. On the march to the Volturno, which was their first time in combat, they acted as an advance guard for a regimental combat team and covered a distance of almost twenty miles in twenty-four hours, despite the extreme difficulties of the mountain road. I sent a cable to Eisenhower on October 8, stating that they had seized their objective and that they were quick to react whenever the enemy offered opposition.”
Fujimoto was born at Koloa, Kaua‘i, the son of Otomatsu and Kane Fujimoto, was educated at Koloa School and had been employed at Koloa Sugar Co. prior to being inducted into the Army in 1941.
He received military training at Schofield Barracks, O‘ahu; Camp McCoy, Wis.; and Camp Shelby, Miss., was awarded the Purple Heart Medal and Combat Infantry Badge among other decorations, and is interred at the Kaua‘i Veteran’s Cemetery in Hanapepe.
