World War II hero and Medal of Honor recipient Takayuki Ted Tanouye had deep roots in Torrance, California, where his story began on November 14, 1919. He was the eldest of six children of Nikuma and Momoye (Uemura) Tanouye.
Known as “Tak,” he attended Torrance Elementary School, where he achieved perfect attendance and was named to the Citizenship Honor Roll in 1931. He later continued his education in the city, becoming one of 74 members of the A-9 class at Torrance Junior High School to receive a diploma during an informal program on June 20, 1935—at the time one of the largest classes promoted to Senior High School.
Ted Tanouye graduated from Torrance High School with the summer class of 1938. During these years, he was a halfback on the varsity football team for two years and was described in his yearbook as “somewhat small, but fast and a hard-driving player.” Tanouye was also a member of the Future Farmers of America Club, participated in the Varsity and Key Clubs, made the Honor Roll, and served as Class President for the first semester of the Sophomore A Class. His yearbook quote proudly states “Fight on for Torrance High.”
He was described as having a genial disposition, and “always had a smile and a helping hand.” Prior to serving in the military, he worked in the wholesale produce field, where he was a buyer for the Ideal Ranch Market and also worked at Quality Market and Ray’s Friendly Market. The 1940 U.S. Census lists him as living with his parents on Hawthorne Boulevard, working as a deliveryman in the grocery industry with annual wages of $1300. On his 1941 draft registration card, Tanouye listed Ray Takayama of Ray’s Friendly Markets as his employer, located at 2113 Torrance Boulevard in Torrance.
On July 1, 1941, Ted Tanouye registered for the nation’s first peacetime draft with Selective Service Board No. 280 located on El Prado Avenue in Torrance, only about five months before the attack on Pearl Harbor plunged the U.S. into World War II. On February 19, 1942, President Franklin D. Roosevelt issued Executive Order 9066, which authorized the forced removal of all persons deemed a threat to national security from the West Coast to “relocation centers.” This resulted in the incarceration of Japanese Americans, including the Tanouye family. One day after this order was issued, Tak Tanouye enlisted in the U.S. Army at nearby Fort MacArthur in San Pedro, California.
He rose quickly in rank from Private to Technical Sergeant, serving at Camp Robinson, Arkansas, and at the post headquarters of Fort F.E. Warren in Wyoming where he trained as a cook and baker. Tanouye also helped train Hawaiian volunteers at Camp Shelby in Mississippi. He then served as an infantryman with Company K, 3rd Battalion of the renown 442nd Regimental Combat Team, a unit composed almost entirely of Japanese American soldiers known for their bravery and remarkable combat record.
In May 1944 he was sent overseas and shortly thereafter on July 7, 1944, as his Medal of Honor Citation states, Technical Sergeant Tanouye “distinguished himself by extraordinary heroism in action” in a battle near Molino A. Ventoabbto in Italy. He “led his platoon in an attack to capture the crest of a strategically important hill that afforded little cover.” He crept forward and killed or wounded three enemy soldiers of a machine gun crew and caused two others to disperse. When an enemy machine pistol then immediately opened fire on him, TSgt. Tanouye “returned fire and killed or wounded three more enemy soldiers.”
Technical Sergeant Tanouye advanced forward and was subjected to grenade bursts which severely wounded his left arm. Despite this injury, he continued to fight, and raked an enemy-held trench with his “Tommy gun” (Thompson submachine gun), and wounded several of the enemy. He ran out of ammuntion, obtained several more clips from a comrade, and then sighted an enemy machine pistol that had pinned down his men, so he “crawled forward a few yards and and threw a hand grenade into the position, silencing the pistol.” TSgt Tanouye then “located another enemy machine gun firing down the slope of the hill, opened fire on it, and silenced that position.”
He drew fire from a machine pistol nest located above him, so he “opened fire on it and wounded three of it occupants.” After taking the objective of the crest of heavily fortified Hill 140, TSgt. Tanouye “organized a defensive position on the reverse slope of the hill before accepting first aid treatment and evacuation.”
Sergeant Tanouye recovered from his wounds and returned to the front lines. He died in Italy on September 6, 1944 from wounds suffered five days earlier when he knelt to inspect a landmine along the Arno River when another soldier accidently tripped the wire. Sgt. Tanouye took most of the blast, shielding the soldier who was next to him. His casualty code is listed as DOW (Died of Wounds, i.e., Army personnel who were wounded in action and later died of those wounds).
In a letter of condolence to the family from his Commanding Officer, Sgt. Tanouye was described as an “excellent soldier, a loyal American who was respected and admired by everyone in the company.” At the time he was the 27th servicemember from Torrance to give his life for their country during World War II.
For the actions on July 7, 1944, TSgt. Tanouye was posthumously awarded the Distinguished Service Cross (DSC) by the President in 1945, the nation’s second highest military decoration for extraordinary heroism in combat. After legislation was passed in 1996 to review the service records of Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders who had been awarded the DSC or Navy Cross for possible upgrade, TSgt. Tanouye’s DSC was upgraded to the Medal of Honor on June 21, 2000.
In addition to his posthumous award of the Medal of Honor, he was also awarded the Bronze Star Medal, Purple Heart Medal with Oak Leaf Cluster, European-African-Middle Eastern Campaign Medal, Combat Infantryman Badge and the World War II Victory Medal. Also, TSgt. Tanouye’s unit was collectively granted the Congressional Gold Medal, considered the nation’s most distinguished recognition bestowed by Congress, on October 5, 2010.
TSgt. Tanouye was initially buried in Italy along with his close friend Staff Sergeant Akira Shimatsu, who was killed in action in Italy on July 16, 1944. In 1948, their remains were exhumed and returned to the United States. A simultaneous funeral was held for them at the Buddhist Temple in Little Tokyo. They are buried side by side at the Evergreen Cemetery in Los Angeles. His brother, Private Yukiwo Tanouye, who was later killed in action in the Korean War, is buried next to them. Their lives highlight the courage and perseverance of Japanese Americans who were unjustly forced from their homes during the war yet still served their country with great honor and distinction.
In his short life Takayuki Ted “Tak” Tanouye forged a deep bond with Torrance and his fellow Tartars, intertwining his life with the community’s shared sacrifice during World War II. During lulls in fighting in Italy, he played his ukulele which he learned from his high school classmate Thelma Hauck. His gridiron memories were forever linked to teammates James Herlett and Louis Madore (see photo above), who, like Tanouye, gave their lives for their country in World War II. And SSgt. Shimatsu, noted earlier, was a close friend and fellow Torrance High graduate who also died for his country.
Credit and sources: National Archives and Records Administration, Congressional Research Service, Congressional Medal of Honor Society, Torrance Herald and other newspapers, Torrance Historical Society archives, Sons and Daughters of the 442nd Regimental Combat Team, and the Tanouye family.
Research by Dennis Piotrowski.
