For the French, however, the honor was long overdue.

This year the French observed the 60th anniversary of D-Day by inviting more than 90 U.S. veterans of World War II to Paris in early June to present them with the Legion of Honor. Hajiro was supposed to have been among them, but could not make the journey.

So the French came to him, pinning the medal on him at a ceremony aboard a French military surveillance ship, the Prairial, based in Papeete, Tahiti.

Looking sharp and standing at attention on the deck of the Prairial, docked at Honolulu Harbor's Pier 9, Hajiro accepted the medal last night with grace, dignity and humility in front of a crowd of more than 200 well-wishers, family and friends.

"This is the highest order of honor that the French government can award," said Patricia Lee, France's honorary consul in Hawai'i.

"We really wanted to honor Mr. Hajiro. We know we're late in doing so, because the British were first back in the 1940s."

"Barney is a very bashful guy," said Ed Ichiyama, 81, Hajiro's friend in the 442nd who fought alongside him in France. "He doesn't say much, but he always wants you to know he accepts these honors on behalf of all the men."

Last night was no exception.

"I'm very proud," Hajiro had said moments before the medal was pinned on the lapel of his black suit by Frederic Desagneaux, France's consul general in San Francisco. "I'm accepting this for all the boys."

Hajiro meant all his buddies who fought and died during the liberation of France in 1944.

It was there, near Bruyeres and Biffontaine in eastern France, that Pvt. Hajiro, in the words of his Medal of Honor citation, "distinguished himself by extraordinary heroism" — not once, but on three occasions.

On Oct. 19, he did it by placing himself in the line of fire to take out two enemy snipers. Three days later, he and a comrade ambushed a heavily armed 18-man enemy patrol, killing two, wounding one and capturing the rest.

Then, on Oct. 29, during the bloody and historic campaign to rescue "The Lost Battalion" — 275 members of the 36th "Texas" Division trapped behind fortified German lines — Hajiro charged a slope known as "Suicide Hill" straight into enemy fire.

"I lost my helmet and I lost my rifle," he said last night, recalling the action in which he was shot three times. "And then they cut me down."

But not before Hajiro had single-handedly destroyed two machine-gun nests and killed two enemy snipers.

For such courage, he has been recognized from Honolulu to Washington, D.C., to Britain.

"Now it's our turn," said Desagneaux in presenting Hajiro the Legion of Honor.

Desagneaux called the 442nd "a regiment that would change history, and a regiment that would make history," and said the time had come for his country to acknowledge Hajiro's role in the effort.

"On behalf of the people of France ... I would like to express our deepest gratitude and thanks," he said.

In closing, Hajiro's son, Glenn Hajiro, read a statement from his father thanking the French government and the people of France for the decoration, and reiterating once again that he would wear it on behalf of all members of the 442nd.

"Aloha, mahalo ... and vive la France!" he concluded.