Background
Nishimoto was born in California to Japanese immigrant parents.
Nishimoto was born in California to Japanese immigrant parents.
He was a Nisei, which means that he was a second generation Japanese-American. He was interned at the Jerome War Relocation Center in Arkansas, Nishimoto joined the United States Army in October 1943. Nishimoto volunteered to be part of the all-Nisei 100th Infantry Battalion.
This army unit was mostly made up of Japanese Americans from Hawaii and the mainland.
He was killed in action on November 15, 1944.
After three days of unsuccessful attempts by his company to dislodge the enemy from a strongly defended ridge, Private First Class Nishimoto, as acting squad leader, boldly crawled forward through a heavily mined and booby-trapped area.