The day he died in Vietnam, 1st Lt. John Kauhaihao and his platoon were ambushed by 500 or more North Vietnamese regulars in bunker fortifications.

Kauhaihao, a Hawai'i Army National Guard soldier from Honaunau on the Big Island, started throwing grenades. Lots of grenades.

In 15 minutes, he hurled more than 30 he carried and gathered from others, drawing fire and providing cover for his men to withdraw.

Later, as Kauhaihao advanced on an enemy squad, he was mortally wounded. A medevac helicopter attempting to extract him was shot down.

Kauhaihao is one of seven Distinguished Service Cross recipients being inducted into the Hawai'i Army Museum Society's Gallery of Heroes Thursday at Fort DeRussy.

The list includes one service member from World War II, one from Korea and five from Vietnam. All are deceased, with most dying as the result of combat injuries.

The Gallery of Heroes at the U.S. Army Museum of Hawai'i was conceived in 1980 by retired Maj. Gen. Herbert E. Wolff to honor service members with Hawai'i ties who served the nation. Wolff died April 17 in Honolulu. He was 83.

To be eligible for the Gallery of Heroes, a service member had to be born in Hawai'i, enter the service from Hawai'i, or live in Hawai'i for at least 10 years.

The gallery focuses on recipients of the nation's two highest awards for valor — the Medal of Honor and Distinguished Service Cross, or its equivalents, the Navy Cross and Air Force Cross.

With the addition of the latest seven, 21 Medal of Honor recipients and 58 recipients of the Distinguished Service Cross will have been memorialized.

Vicki Olson, executive director of the Hawai'i Army Museum Society, said approximately 25 relatives and friends of Kauhaihao are coming in for the induction, including his wife and children from the Big Island.

At least two soldiers who served alongside Kauhaihao are coming from the Mainland.

"We're hoping with the publicity, we can find (other) family members, and also, we're looking for pictures," Olson said.

Kauhaihao's actions will be among those memorialized in the gallery.

Tayloe Wise, now 63, who knew Kauhaihao from Vietnam, is flying in from Virginia. Another fellow soldier is coming from Utah, and a third comrade is coming in from Hilo.

"I knew him as an officer," Wise said by phone. "One night he did something that has been an inspiration for me for the last 40 years. He was a very special person."

That night was in August 1969 in Tay Ninh Province, northwest of Saigon and close to the Cambodian border.

Many soldiers simply called Kauhaihao "Lt. K."

"We just knew him as the Hawaiian lieutenant whose name we couldn't pronounce," Wise said.

A despised platoon sergeant ordered Wise and several other soldiers to head out in the jungle to a listening post. The men were ordered to go in the dark, which greatly increased their chances of being killed.

"Somebody, one of the four of us, chambered a round in our M-16, so the sergeant was about to become DOA (dead on arrival)," Wise said.

Out of the darkness stepped Kauhaihao, who said, "Hey guys, what's the problem?" Wise recalled.

The lieutenant then agreed to lead the men partially out to the listening post, and with that, the men followed.

"It is that sort of leadership and ability of somebody to basically say, 'I'm going to lead here,' and you lead by example, and that's what John Kauhaihao did," Wise said.

It stuck with him the rest of his life, and since then, Wise said he's always tried to lead by example.

The following month in September 1969, Kauhaihao was leading his battered and wounded men back to his company's main force after encountering the dug-in enemy battalion.

He had advanced to engage an approaching group of enemy when he was mortally wounded.

Wise also witnessed Kauhaihao's medevac chopper get shot down as he was being hauled up in a "penetrator basket."

Wise doesn't think "Lt. K." would have made it.

"I don't think so, based on what I knew about his wounds," Wise said. "He had received, I believe, three wounds in the chest."

Wise said he's pleased Kauhaihao is being inducted into the Gallery of Heroes.

"He certainly was a hero to the men that served under him," Wise said.