Decorations register · Notice Nearby
No rights-safe contemporary likeness is on file. The record is the decoration and the writing, not an invented face.
Jimmie Kanaya
1920–2019
Colonel (retired)
Medical detachment, 442nd Regimental Combat Team (Italy/France, WWII; POW after Biffontaine, Oct 1944); later Allied Translator and Interpreter Service (Tokyo), Korea, and Military Assistance Advisory Group Medical Department Operations (South Vietnam)
Documented decorations
Purple Heart
Named in VA #VeteranOfTheDay (2 Jun 2022) career decoration list. Do not invent an oak-leaf count.
Public sources
Bronze Star Medal
with Valor; two oak leaf clusters (VA #VeteranOfTheDay account)
VA #VeteranOfTheDay states a Bronze Star with Valor and two Oak Leaf Clusters. Do not invent a further device beyond that VA sentence.
Public sources
Silver Star
Named as a Silver Star in the same VA #VeteranOfTheDay career decoration list. Do not invent a second award.
Public sources
Jimmie Kanaya’s Silver Star, Bronze Star Medal (with Valor and two oak leaf clusters on the VA account), and Purple Heart are named in the Department of Veterans Affairs’ #VeteranOfTheDay profile of his career. This decorations page records those three types from that VA list. It will not invent a Legion of Merit, Prisoner of War Medal, or Congressional Gold Medal chip on this awards row — those appear in the VA paragraph as other honors, not as Purple Heart / Bronze Star / Silver Star substitutes.
Born in Clackamas, Oregon, Kanaya enlisted before Pearl Harbor, served as a medic with the 442nd Regimental Combat Team, received a battlefield commission, and was captured near Biffontaine in October 1944 while evacuating wounded. The forced marches between Oflag camps and later service as a translator and medical advisor in Korea and Vietnam are the public career record on the VA page. The Silver Star, Bronze Star Medal, and Purple Heart are the published U.S. decoration names this page is built from.
He is not yet on a war-roll essay. Arlington National Cemetery burial after his death in November 2019 is public fact. It is not printed here as a medal.
This name is not yet on a war-roll essay. The decorations above are the documented public record this register will stand on until that essay is written.
A publisher register — not a verification
This decorations register is publisher-curated from public records — Medal of Honor Society citations, published general orders, and official Army, Navy, and Marine Corps biographies. It is not a verified-veteran product. Notice Nearby does not certify service and does not issue badges.
A paid or unpaid memorial does not enroll anyone here. Checkout, VET50, and a family’s mention of service on an obituary are not applications to this list. We add a name only when a public official source names the decoration.
Claiming a decoration that was not awarded is stolen valor. It is a disrespect to those who earned the medal and, in some cases, a federal crime. This register will not invent an award to fill a page.
These pages are a historical register. They are not Legal Publication, not a newspaper notice, and not proof that a statute was satisfied.