A Silver Star awaited Katsu on Mt. Fologorita.

Victor Katsu Hada was born on July 22, 1921, to Mr. and Mrs. Karoku Hada in Fort Collins, Colorado. The Hada family, which also included another son Susumu, moved to Watsonville, California, where they worked in the local agriculture industry. Katsu attended Pajaro Valley elementary schools and graduated from Watsonville High School in 1941.

Prior to the evacuation of Japanese Americans in February 1942, the Hada family moved back to Colorado. Katsu may also have spent a brief period in Saginaw, Michigan, prior to joining his family in Weld County, Colorado.

Victor Katsu Hada was inducted into the US Army at Ft. Logan, Colorado, on June 9, 1944, and sent to Camp Shelby, Mississippi. There he joined Company K of the 442nd Regimental Combat Team. On October 3, 1944, Katsu married Irene Yonemura at the First Presbyterian Church in Peoria, Illinois. Following a honeymoon, Irene returned to her home in Peoria, Illinois, and Katsu went back to Camp Shelby to prepare for deployment.

Katsu Hada was deployed to Europe in October 1944 and may have joined the 442nd when they were recuperating at the Riviera and receiving much needed replacements. In March 1945, the 442nd proceeded north to the German border. After reaching the German homeland, they received one of their more difficult assignments.

“The 100th/442nd had been called to Italy by Gen. Mark Clark for a vital secret mission -- spearheading a diversionary assault on the western sector of the Gothic Line. The 100th/442nd returned to Italy in April 1945 to breach the German Gothic Line, which had blocked the Allied advance for six months...Despite continual bombing, strafing and artillery fire by the Allies, the line seemed impregnable. The task of scaling the 3,000-foot saddle between Mount Cerreta and Mount Fologorita in the dark with full combat gear was given to the 100th Battalion. At dawn on April 5, 1945, elements of the 100th Battalion, supported by artillery fire from the 442nd Regimental Combat Team batteries, began a frontal attack on one of the mountains while other soldiers who had spent the night scaling the 3,000-foot mountain moved in from the top.”

On April 5, 1945, Private First Class Victor Katsu Hada and 16 other Nisei members of the 442nd RCT lost their lives. The posthumous Silver Star award describes Katsu's role in that heroic event.

“When a member of his squad was wounded in a heavy mortar concentration, Private First Class Hada, motivated by his selfless devotion to his comrades, left his covered position and sought to rescue the man, although he had to crawl through the impact area to do so. In his gallant attempt, he was mortally wounded. His sacrifice of his own life in an attempt to aid his comrade is in the highest tradition of the United States Army and is deserving of highest praise.”

The remains of Victor Katsu Hada were buried in Arlington National Cemetery.

(NARA2; Saginaw (MI) May 2, 1945 (1), Saginaw Mourns War Dead; Katherine Baishiki/Kazu Oshima/Geo Oshima. Excerpts from Pacific Citizen and National Japanese American Historical Society 10/20/03 (revised 4/17/04) (revised 9/12/05) Mits Kojimoto; E-mail Remembrances of Shig Kizuka, April 4, 2008; Photo-WHS)