World War II Medal of Honor Recipient. He was killed by a sniper's bullet on the outskirts of Castellina, Italy. His is a tragic story of great courage. He was rousted from his home, along with many others of his heritage. This native son of Seattle was not considered as such because of his Japanese descent. Just a month after Pearl Harbor, his mother died of cancer. His father, George Takichi Nakamura, a former sword-maker in Japan, worked as a barber. Two months later, the rest of his family and all other Japanese-Americans in the Puget Sound area were evacuated to relocation centers. This family went to Minidoka Relocation Center near Hunt, Idaho. At the time, he was an undergraduate student at the University of Washington. His older brother, George, and he both enlisted in the 442nd Regimental Combat Team, in large part to prove their patriotism to the United States, and, as their sister Oshima said, "that they were not the enemy." Made up almost entirely of Japanese Americans, scorned and reviled, the 442nd would go on to become the most decorated military unit in U.S. history, fighting in eight major campaigns in Italy, France, and Germany, suffering more than 8800 casualties. On July 4, on what was known on military maps as Hill 140, one of the bloodiest battles of the war took place. Major Orville Cresap Shirey, of the 442nd, author of "Americans: The Story of the 442nd Combat Team," describes the heroism: "Private First Class William L. Nakamura, in the initial attack, crawled to within fifteen yards of an enemy machine gun that had pinned down his platoon, silenced the gun, and killed the crew with hand grenades. Later, when the platoon was being pulled back it was again pinned down by fire from concealed machine guns. Private First Class Nakamura crawled to a point from which he could observe the guns and fired clip after clip of ammunition with his rifle, keeping the enemy gunners down until his platoon reached cover." He was later found in this last position with a bullet wound to the head. A sniper shot. "It took the United States government 56 years to acknowledge that military racism had deprived Nakamura and many other soldiers of color the honor they deserved," Seattle City Councilwoman Jan Drago said. Not only at this late date, in June of 2000, did he receive the country's highest military honor, for which he had been recommended at the time by his commanding officer, but the federal courthouse in downtown Seattle was named for him.