New Ulm buries hero namesake of Post 132

NEW ULM — New Ulm laid to rest one of its finest on Saturday, May 2.

“There are 3,433 Medal of Honor recipients, 64 of which are living,” said Kim Mitchell, executive director of the Congressional Medal of Honor Society. She said New Ulm’s recipient, Capt. Willibald C. Bianchi, exhibited “a standard of character, a life of service to others.”

Bianchi served in the U.S. Army with the 45th Infantry Regiment in the Philippines. He was posthumously awarded the Medal of Honor on Feb. 3, 1942. On June 7, 1945, the Army presented the medal to his mother.

Chartered in October 1919, American Legion Post 132 in New Ulm was named for Cpl. Benjamin Seifert, the first soldier from New Ulm killed in World War I. The post added Bianchi as a second namesake following World War II.

Brown County Veteran Service Officer Greg Peterson emceed the ceremony May 2 at the New Ulm Readiness Center proceeding the burial in the Soldiers Rest Section of the New Ulm City Cemetery. Around 400 people fit into the assembly hall and adjacent vestibule, including members of Bianchi’s family.

“Capt. Bianchi gave his all today so that we may enjoy tomorrow,” Peterson said.

New Ulm Mayor Kathleen Backer said many people know Bianchi as “Captain Bill” or “Uncle Bill.

Becker told the story of Bianchi was raised on a farm south of New Ulm. After his father died in a farm accident, he attended the University of Minnesota Farm School. He graduated in 1940 from South Dakota State College, where he was involved in football and ROTC.

She proclaimed May 2, 2026, Captain Bianchi Day.

Minnesota Commissioner of Veterans Affairs Brad Lindsay shared a message from the governor that May 2 is Captain Bianchi Day statewide, too, with flags at half-staff.

Lindsay said it gives him pleasure to see long-overdue honors bestowed on a true hero.

Maj. Gen. Shawn Manke, adjutant general of the Minnesota National Guard, said freedom is earned through sacrifice.

“Wounded multiple times, captured and still he survived. Still, he led others, even in the most unimaginable locations,” Manke said.

U.S. Sen. Amy Klobuchar thanked the veterans organizations’ dedication to bringing every servicemember home. She noted that Bianchi was 29 when he died. She also thanked the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency that was responsible for identifying Bianchi’s remains.

DPAA General Counsel Joel Hoelz said New Ulm is a place where good people instill values such as selfless patriotism.

“As a nation, we will never leave a soldier behind. This is a sacred duty and a solemn vow,” he said.

Dr. Carrie LeGarde, a DPAA scientific recovery expert, said the project began to identify the prisoners aboard the Enoura Maru on Jan. 9, 2023. It involved hundreds of hours of meticulous work.

“I cannot imagine a more meaningful calling,” LeGarde said.

Here is the Medal of Honor citation word for word:

“For conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity above and beyond the call of duty in action with the enemy on 3 February 1942, near Bagac, Province of Bataan, Philippine Islands. When the rifle platoon of another company was ordered to wipe out two strong enemy machine-gun nests, 1st Lt. Bianchi, voluntarily and of his own initiative, advanced with the platoon leading part of the men. When wounded early in the action by two bullets through the left hand, he did not stop for first aid but discarded his rifle and began firing a pistol. He located a machine-gun nest and personally silenced it with grenades. When wounded the second time by two machine-gun bullets through the chest muscles, 1st Lt. Bianchi climbed to the top of an American tank, manned its antiaircraft machine gun, and fired into strongly held enemy position until knocked completely off the tank by a third severe wound.”

After recovering from wounds, he returned to action. Bianchi was captured by the Japanese in the fall of the Philippines, and he survived the Bataan Death March. He was imprisoned in several Japanese POW camps. He was known for his efforts to negotiate food and medicine for fellow prisoners. He was promoted to captain in absentia.

He survived the sinking of the unmarked Japanese ship Oryoku Maru on Dec. 15, 1944, in Subic Bay, Philippines.

Bianchi and several hundred Allied prisoners died while aboard the Enoura Maru when it was attacked by American naval aircraft on Jan. 9, 1945, at Takao Harbor, Formosa. The American pilots were unaware the ship contained the Allied servicemembers.

The remains of the 430 unknown Americans were buried at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific in Honolulu.

DPAA officials have stood on the stage at American Legion national conventions, during various sessions of  Congress, so it applies to both parties, and said this: “Our agency would not exist if it were not for The American Legion.”

They have credited the Legion for fighting to keep the agency alive despite efforts to reduce its funding. Bringing home servicemembers is an important mission of The American Legion.

Convention-goers can visit with DPAA staff members at their booth at the national convention.

American Legion Riders and other groups escorted Bianchi’s coffin home to New Ulm from the Minneapolis-St. Paul Airport on April 24 in a patriotic convoy that swept across southern Minnesota.