Yukiwo Tanouye was born on September 29, 1930 in Torrance, California, the youngest of six children of Nikuma and Momoye Tanouye. He was in the Glee Club and played football in school. When he was ten years old, along with other school children, he participated in the “The Four Wise Men” a pageant at the Walteria (Torrance) community Christmas party at the recreation center.
During World War II, the Tanouye family was incarcerated in the Jerome War Relocation Center, a Japanese American interment camp in Arkansas. After this camp closed in 1944, the family was transferred to the Rohwer War Relocation Center also in Arkansas. After the war was over and the family released, Yukiwo Tanouye attended three different schools, graduating from Kenner High School in Louisiana.
Tanouye enlisted in the U.S. Army on February 26, 1951 and served as a Light Weapons Infantryman with K Company, 3rd Battalion, 35th Infantry (Cacti) Regiment, 25th Infantry Division. VFW Magazine reports that in early September 1951, “elements of the 3rd Battalion, 35th Infantry Regiment, 25th Division engaged in one of the Korean War’s deadliest battles.”
Over this intense six-day battle between allied forces and Chinese troops near Tangwon-ni in North Korea, 88 U.S. soldiers lost their lives, with 217 wounded and 15 captured (later returned). Private Tanouye was among them, killed in action on September 7, 1951 near Hills 717-682 in the vicinity of Tangwon-ni.
Private Kevin Wolff, a Browning Automatic Rifle (BAR) man of L Company, recounted that he and Yukiwo were among the new replacements brought in from the “repo depot” (where soldiers were temporarily stationed before being assigned to their new unit). They became close friends during the weeks leading up to the September 6, 1951 attack by the enemy.
Pvt. Wolff states that: “On that date and following hill 717-682 came under fierce attack by two reinforced enemy regiments, prior to the assault the hill received approximately 1,000 rounds of artillery…” It was his understanding that Pvt. Tanouye was hit by a shell fragment.
Yukiwo Tanouye was the third son of Nikuma and Momoye Tanouye to serve in the U.S. Armed Forces. Isao Tanouye also served during the Korean War and passed away peacefully in April 2015 at the age of 86. Ted Tanouye was a Technical Sergeant in the U.S. Army, served with Company K, 442nd Regimental Combat Team, and was posthumously awarded the Medal of Honor for military valor during World War II.
Private Yukiwo Tanouye was awarded the Purple Heart, Combat Infantryman Badge, National Defense Service Medal, United Nations Service Medal (Korea), and the Republic of Korea War Service Medal among other commendations. He is buried near his parents and his brother Ted Tanouye at the Evergreen Cemetery in Los Angeles.
Credit: Thank you to Yukiwo Tanouye’s nieces Patti Tanouye Bast and Tracey Tanouye, and other Tanouye family members, for the photo and information contained in this biography. The recollections of the late Kevin Wolff are also acknowledged and appreciated.
