Woodridge WWII Veteran Inducted into Pentagon's Hall of Heroes

Next Wednesday, several local veterans from WWII to Afghanistan to tell their stories. Read about one of Woodridge's most decorated veterans below. 

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Not long after the Japanese invaded Pearl Harbor in 1941, when Rocky Matayoshi was a senior in high school, FBI agents took his father away to a Japanese internment camp in Santa Fe, NM.

A year later, when the Army asked for volunteers for the 442nd Regimental Combat Team—a segregated, all-Japanese infantry unit—Matayoshi enlisted.

“I volunteered because they took my dad away,” said the 88-year-old Woodridge resident. “I thought if I volunteered, maybe, by showing a good example as a soldier, they might send my dad home. I was determined I had to prove something.”

Matayoshi's father wouldn't come home until 1945, months after Matayoshi returned home from serving his country. 

During his military service, Matayoshi fought in four military campaigns and has received the following honors for his actions:

• Distinguished Service Cross
• Silver Star with Oak Leaf Cluster
• Bronze Star Medal for Valor
• Bronze Star Medal for Meritorious Service
• Purple Heart Medal
• Presidential Unit Citation
• Meritorious Unit Citation
• American Campaign Medal
• Asiatic-Pacific Campaign Medal with one Bronze Service Star
• European-African Campaign Medal with 4 Bronze Service Stars and one Arrowhead
• World War II Victory Medal
• Combat Infantryman’s Badge
• Congressional Gold Medal

"People thought I was crazy, that I wasn't afraid of anything. How could I face a machine gun and not fear being shot at?" Matayoshi said. "I felt that if my time came it would come...I never felt I did [anything] beyond what I was supposed to do." 

Unlike other soldiers, Matayoshi said, he didn’t play pranks—“and because of that, I was deemed a little square.” 

Not long after he enlisted, his lieutenant asked him to be a squad leader. “I said, ‘No sir, I just want to be a good soldier,’ ” Matayoshi said. “He said, ‘You’re it.’”

Last June, he received the Distinguished Service Cross, the nation's second highest military honor for valor, at an induction ceremony at the Pentagon's Hall of Heroes. His initial Distinguished Service Cross citation was lost in a fire in 1973 at the Army's National Records facility.

The award recognizes his extraordinary heroism during a battle on April 7, 1945. That day, Matayoshi led his platoon up the slopes of Mount Belvedere in Italy to seize nearby forest areas that were under enemy control.

His platoon came under machine gun fire from the front, left and right sides, but still managed to secure the area. Matayoshi fought back with a machine gun and hand grenades. 

"(The ceremony) really floored me," Matayoshi said. "I never saw so many high-ranking generals and officers. I had a big lump in my throat. I didn't think my voice would come out." 

You can read the full proclamation of his Distinguished Service Cross here. 

Before, and after, the war 

Matayoshi grew up on the island of Kauai, where his father emigrated from Japan as a young boy. Both his parents were laborers on a sugar plantation, and his mother took in laundry to make extra money, he said.

“I used to help her scrub the dirty laundry on my hands and knees,” Matayoshi said. “I learned from [a] very young [age] that discipline was very important. My dad always told me that whatever I did, I had to do the very best I could.”

At the end of April 1945, Matayoshi’s commander sent him home. His father, however, was not released until October. He had been interned for three years, and when he came back—at age 44—his hair had turned white.

“He was never given any trial,” Matayoshi said. “He was pretty bitter.” 

Matayoshi said that his father was particularly upset to have witnessed soldiers bullying the Japanese citizens at the camp. “Seeing how his fellow internees were treated, it made him feel terrible,” he said.

After the war, Matayoshi worked in a convenience shop owned by his sister and brother-in-law on Kauai before moving to Illinois to attend college. To make a living, he worked seven days a week in a body shop. 

He married a woman from his village. He remembers looking at her, the oldest of her sisters, as the woman he thought he might marry. He sent back trinkets from Europe to her family when he had a chance during the war. 

He has four children with his wife - three boys and one girl. His oldest is 62.

Along with his military awards, Matayoshi was named Citizen of the Year in Woodridge in 2003. He has lived in the village for nine years. 

In retirement, Matayoshi continues to share his story, and his wisdom. 

"You have to do your best in whatever it is," he said. "You should always try to emulate the good in life, and not the bad. There's always room for improvement in your personality." 

Editor's note: Patch Editor Jennifer Fisher contributed to this report.