SEVEN NEWS. AS WE CELEBRATE ASIAN AMERICAN PACIFIC ISLANDER MONTH, WE ARE HONORING A MAN WHOSE NAME YOU’VE PROBABLY HEARD. HE IS HIROSHI OR HERSHEY MIYAMA AND HERO IN SO MANY WAYS. AND WE ARE HONORED TO SHARE HIS STORY ON MEMORIAL DAY AT THE COMFORT SUITES IN GALLUP, A VETERAN’S MUSEUM HONORS NEW MEXICO’S BRAVE MEN AND WOMEN. ONE IN PARTICULAR, HIROSHI MIYAMA, CALLED HIM UP AND HE ANSWERED HIS PHONE. AND I GOT NERVOUS AND SAID, OH, I’M SORRY, SIR. I GOT THE WRONG NUMBER AND HUNG UP. KEN RIDGE, REFLECTING BACK ON HOW NERVOUS HE WAS MORE THAN A DECADE AGO WHEN INVITING HIROSHI TO THE OPENING OF THE MUSEUM, HE GOT THE COURAGE TO CALL BACK AND A FRIENDSHIP WAS BORN. MANY OF HIROSHIMA’S MILITARY HONORS ARE PROUDLY DISPLAYED ON THESE WALLS, BUT IT STARTED WITH A PERSONAL BATTLE. I FELT I WAS AN AMERICAN LIKE ANYONE ELSE. BUT THE US MILITARY DIDN’T THINK HE WAS AMERICAN ENOUGH TO SERVE IN THE ARMY. WE HAVE TO PROVE THAT WE’RE LOYAL TO THIS COUNTRY. AT 18, HE WOULD FINALLY DO THAT AND SERVED AS PART OF THE MOST DECORATED AMERICAN UNIT IN WORLD WAR TWO. BUT IT WAS THE KOREAN WAR WHERE HIS ACTIONS WOULD SHINE. ON APRIL 24TH, 1951, REALIZING HIS UNIT WAS GOING TO BE OVERRUN, MIYAMA ORDERED THEM TO RETREAT, BUT HE STAYED BEHIND, FIGHTING OFF AN OVER WHELMING NUMBER OF ENEMY SOLDIERS. ALLIED FORCES THEN BEGAN TO BOMB THE MOUNTAIN AND MYANMAR REALIZED HE NEEDED TO MAKE HIS WAY OUT. I RAN INTO AN ENEMY. I’VE BEEN AT HIM AND HE HAD A GRENADE AND HE THREW IT AT ME AND I KICKED IT BACK AND IT WENT OFF. I DIDN’T REALIZE THEN I WAS TOO HURT, BUT I MADE MY WAY DOWN THE MOUNTAIN. EVENTUALLY HE FELL TO THE GROUND AND HEARD THE WORDS NO SOLDIER EVER WANTS TO HEAR A VOICE IN ENGLISH SAID TO GET UP, YOU’RE MY PRISONER. HE SPENT 27 MONTHS IN A POW CAMP. WHEN RELEASED, HE LEARNED HIS ACTIONS, EARNED HIM THE MEDAL OF HONOR. I REMEMBER ALL I COULD SAY WAS WHAT SOMETHING HEROES GET, BUT AN AWARD, MIYAMA TOLD RIDGE HE DIDN’T AGREE WITH. I’M NO HERO. I WAS JUST DOING MY WHAT I WAS TRAINED TO DO OR THAT’S KIND OF WAS ALWAYS HERSHEY’S MENTALITY. SO WHEN DID HIROSHI BECOME HERSHEY? WILL REESE SAID THAT HAPPENED WHEN MIYAMA WAS JUST A KID. HIS THIRD GRADE TEACHER COULD NOT PRONOUNCE HIROSHI. SO WHEN TAKING ATTENDANCE ONE MORNING, SHE SAID, I’M GOING TO START CALLING YOU HERSHEY. AND IT STUCK. AND IT WAS FUNNY, TOO, BECAUSE HE LOVED HERSHEY’S CANDY. SO IT WASN’T JUST A CATCHY NICKNAME. HERSHEY GREW UP TO BE A HUSBAND, A FATHER, A GRANDFATHER, AND AN AMERICAN HERO WHO WOULDN’T TAKE NO FOR AN ANSWER. THEY SAID NO, YOU HAVE TO PROVE YOURSELF BECAUSE YOU’RE A WAR WITH THE JAPANESE. AND THAT’S OUR ANCESTRY. YOU HAVE TO PROVE THAT WE’RE LOYAL TO THIS COUNTRY. IN NOVEMBER, AT HIS FUNERAL IN GALLUP, WE WERE ALL REMINDED OF HOW HE HAD DONE JUST THAT, PROVEN TO THE US MILITARY. HE WAS AN AMERICAN. OF ALL THE HONORS HERSHEY RECEIVED, THE ONE HE ADMIRED THE MOST. WHAT IMPACTED HIM MOST WAS HAVING A HIGH SCHOOL NAMED FOR HIM IN HIS HOMETOWN OF GALLUP AND THAT HE DIE