Barney Fushimi Hajiro (Japanese: 羽白 二四三,[1] September 16, 1916 – January 21, 2011) was an American combat veteran of World War II who received the Medal of Honor, the highest United States military award for valor.

[2] Two months after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, he was drafted into the U.S. Army[5] and performed menial labor as part of an engineering battalion.

On October 19, 1944, the 442nd was fighting near Bruyères and Biffontaine in eastern France and over the next ten days, Hajiro, a private in Company I, repeatedly distinguished himself in battle.

He received the Distinguished Service Cross[8] and the World War II Victory Medal before he was honorably discharged.

[2] Twenty-one other former U.S. military personnel of Asian descent also received the Medal of Honor during the ceremony, fifteen of them posthumously.

Private Barney F. Hajiro distinguished himself by extraordinary heroism in action on 19, 22, and October 29, 1944, in the vicinity of Bruyeres and Biffontaine, eastern France.

On October 22, 1944, he and one comrade took up an outpost security position about 50 yards to the right front of their platoon, concealed themselves, and ambushed an 18-man, heavily armed, enemy patrol, killing two, wounding one, and taking the remainder as prisoners.