I often get my blog subjects from our online Almanac. February 3rd celebrates the courage of Lt. Willibald Charles Bianchi in 1942 that earned him the Congressional Medal of Honor during the Japanese invasion of the Philippines.
Some 27 Americans of Italian stock have earned the Medal of Honor since the Civil War, the latest being Staff Sgt. Salvatore Giunta for heroism in Afghanistan in 2010. We know these statistics thanks to the work of the late John Dabbene of Staten Island, NY who, as an official of the Order Sons of Italy in America, researched and collected the data.
There has only been one Hollywood movie about an Italian American Medal of Honor winner that I know of. Actually, it was a miniseries on HBO titled The Pacific, produced in 2010 by Steven Spielberg and Tom Hanks (not Coppola, Scorsese, Chase, DeNiro, or Pacino) and starred Puerto Rican actor Jon Seda as real G.I. hero John Basilone. (Technically, bombardier Louis Zamperini’s harrowing experience in World War II, as retold in the Hollywood film Unbroken, did not earn him a Medal of Honor.)
As this is Lt. Bianchi’s week to celebrate, we can start by wondering how he got the name Willibald (“Bill”). I would guess it came from his German American mother Caroline Eibner who married his father Joseph. Second-born children in the Italian tradition usually get their first names from the maternal side – Bill’s older sister was already named Josephine. The Bianchi family had a 73-acre poultry farm in New Ulm, Minnesota. Tragedy stuck early in Bill’s life when his father died in a farming accident while Bill was still in high school. Bill had to drop out of school to run the farm.
But he didn’t neglect his education, eventually completing high school and enrolling in South Dakota State University, where he took ROTC. In 1940, at age 25 he received his commission at graduation and requested a foreign assignment. The United States was still at peace that year and the only “foreign” Army base was in our colony of the Philippines. Bianchi was shipped there to train local Philippinos to be “jungle fighters”, aka Scouts.
When the Japanese invaded the Philippines, right after Pearl Harbor in 1941, Bianchi’s Scout unit was on the defensive on the Bataan peninsula, protecting the off-shore fortress of Corregidor.
February 3, 1942 found Bianchi’s Scouts counterattacking Japanese machinegun emplacements. Bianchi was shot in the left hand early in the attack. Unable to use his rifle, he continued to move forward and took two bullets to his chest while tossing a grenade that wiped out a machinegun nest. Gathering whatever strength he had left, he climbed aboard an American tank and began firing its turret machinegun until the concussion from a Japanese shell knocked him unconscious.
Rescued from the battle, Bianchi recovered from his wounds and was promoted to Captain for his actions. Weeks later Bataan and Corregidor surrendered. He became part of the infamous Bataan Death March in April, 1942 during which he inspired his weakened comrades to endure the 65-mile trek, saving many.
Bianchi survived the Death March only to suffer in one miserable prison camp after another. As an officer, he had to deal with the brutal Japanese authorities and see that the meager rations were divided equitably. Later survivors testified to his honesty and self-sacrifice.
Bianchi was never liberated. As American forces pushed the Japanese back across the Pacific, he was loaded on a hellish transport to Japan. That ship only made it to Formosa (Taiwan) where it was sunk by U.S. planes. Immediately transferred to another Japanese vessel, Bianchi’s luck finally ran out. The new ship was attacked on January 9, 1945, killing him and the other American prisoners instantly. Capt. Bianchi was only 29 years old. He was awarded the Medal of Honor posthumously on June 7, 1945 by Gen. Douglas MacArthur.
Hundreds of thousands of Italian Americans fought in the First and Second World Wars, one of the largest ethnic contingents. Lately, in the name of “equity” lesser, but still laudable, war contributions of other minority groups have dominated the media. Nevertheless, we should not allow our community’s service to this nation to be overshadowed or forgotten.
Bill Bianchi and twenty-six others are now enshrined in our history. -JLM
Such a great subject. Let’s not forget Col. Henry Mucci, who received the Distinguished Cross for his amazing raid to free prisoners of the Bataan Death March in the Philippines. Hollywood made a 2005 film about it: The Great Raid.
Alas, it was a dud, both artistically and financially.
Benjamin Bratt (German/English-Peruvian heritage), former star of Law and Order, and previously known as Julia Robert’s first famous boyfriend, played Mucci. And, though I can’t find it at the moment, Bratt was interviewed in PARADE Magazine over ten years ago and praised the quality of life he observed in southern Italy.
Thank you for keeping this very important information alive.
Another outstanding example of Italian American heroism is Maryknoll priest Father Vincent Capodanno. He was a Navy chaplain and served in the US Marines Corps in Vietnam. He was much loved by his men and became known as the Grunt Padre. When one of his units was ambushed by a much larger force he jumped on a helicopter and got to them. He went all over the battlefield, saving men’s lives and anointing those who were dying, until he was gunned down. He was awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor for his actions.