During a mission in the Kim Son Valley, on 1 December 1966, his unit came under fire from North Vietnamese People's Army of Vietnam (PAVN) troops.

[2] On 27 June 2022 it was announced that President Joe Biden would present the Medal of Honor to Kaneshiro (posthumously) and three others on 5 July 2022.

[3] Kaneshiro's son John was presented with his father's Medal of Honor on 5 July 2022 in a ceremony at the White House.

Not knowing that the village was heavily fortified with a fully bunkered, concealed trench system and garrisoned by North Vietnamese troops in vastly superior force, two squads of the platoon had deployed to its center, while Kaneshiro and his squad scouted the more open terrain to the east of the village.

Swiftly reading the situation, and seeing that fire from the big trench had to be stopped if anyone was to survive, he first deployed his men to cover, then crawled forward to attack the enemy force alone.

That done, with five grenades remaining and his rifle to sustain his assault, Kaneshiro jumped into the trench to sweep its length where it fronted the two pinned squads.