With nowhere to hide, the young soldiers hugged the ground as German bullets rained down from the crest of Hill 140. Only three days on the front lines of a World War II battlefield in Italy, and death was taking aim.

It was the moment when U.S. Army Tech. Sgt. Ted Tanouye defined his legacy, and it was almost lost to history.

The platoon leader from Torrance, Calif. — a 24-year-old second-generation Japanese-American — captured the hill on that day in July 1944, despite suffering a severe grenade wound. The Army called it "extraordinary heroism," but Tanouye's story went largely untold for nearly six decades.

A pair of filmmakers and eight high school students from the sergeant's alma mater changed that with their award-winning documentary "Citizen Tanouye." The film, released in 2005, will make its Hawai'i debut with two free screenings tomorrow. It's a moving look at loyalty and discovery across the generations.

Tanouye was a member of the segregated 442nd Regimental Combat Team and one of 22 Asian-Americans who received the Medal of Honor in 2000. Their combat bravery in the much-decorated unit should have earned them the honor long ago, but World War II-era racism prevented that.

When Torrance High School built a memorial to honor its only Medal of Honor recipient, filmmakers Robert Horsting and Craig Yahata were asked to create a short biography for the dedication ceremony. To help tell the story, they asked a group of students to research Tanouye's life, with cameras zooming in on their sense of adventure and discovery all the way to the dedication.

As the students collected material and learned about the war's impact on the Japanese in their community, they also found bitter irony in Tanouye's family's story.

In September 1944, two months after the sergeant captured Hill 140, he was killed by a land mine. The telegram sent to his family announcing his death was mailed to Rowher, Ark., where they were living in an internment camp.

Reach Mike Gordon at mgordon@honoluluadvertiser.com.