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World War II hero Army 2nd Lt. Daniel Inouye is a legend in his
native Hawaii, in the Army and in American politics.
Born in
Honolulu in 1924 to parents who had emigrated from Japan, Inouye had
a tough time growing up. He was surrounded by anti-Japanese
sentiment, especially having graduated high school in 1942, right
after the Pearl Harbor attacks that forced the U.S. into the war.
Inouye tried to join the military after graduation, but he was
given draft classification 4C, which stood for enemy alien and
labeled him unfit for duty. For more than a year, he was questioned
about his patriotism until the Army finally dropped its enlistment
ban on Japanese-Americans. He quickly enlisted and volunteered for
the storied 442nd Regimental Combat Team, a segregated
Japanese-American combat unit that fought in southern France and
Germany.
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U.S, Senator Daniel Inouye's official Senate photo portrait in 2008
on left and U.S. Army 2nd Lt. Daniel Inouye during World War
II on right. (Image created by USA Patriotism! from public domain
photos courtesy of the U.S, Senate and Arm)
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Inouye was promoted to sergeant in his first year, and after a
major battle in the Vosges Mountains of France in the fall of 1944,
he was given a battlefield commission to second lieutenant. During
that offensive, Inouye was hit by a German round right above his
heart, but two silver dollars he had stacked in his shirt pocket
stopped the bullet. He carried those coins with him through the rest
of the war.
On April 21, 1945, Inouye was near San Terenzo, Italy, leading his platoon on an attack on a
mountain ridge against enemy troops who were guarding an important
road junction when they were ambushed by three close-range machine
guns.
During the attack, Inouye was shot in the stomach. But
he ignored the wound and pushed on, destroying the first machine gun
position by himself with grenades and gunfire. He and his squad then
attacked the second machine gun nest, successfully destroying it.
Inouye collapsed from blood loss after that, but it didn’t stop
him. His platoon managed to distract the third machine gunner enough
so he could crawl within 10 yards of the position. A National Park
Service article best described what happened next:
“As he
raised himself up and cocked his arm to throw his last grenade, a
German soldier inside the bunker fired a rifle grenade, which struck
his right elbow, nearly severing most of his arm and leaving his
primed grenade reflexively ‘clenched in a fist that suddenly didn’t
belong to me anymore.’ Inouye’s horrified soldiers moved to his aid,
but he shouted for them to keep back out of fear his severed fist
would involuntarily relax and drop the grenade. While the German
inside the bunker reloaded his rifle, Inouye pried the live grenade
from his useless right hand and transferred it to his left. As the
enemy soldier aimed his rifle at him, Inouye tossed the grenade into
the bunker and destroyed it. He stumbled to his feet and continued
forward, silencing the last German resistance with a one-handed
burst from his Thompson [machine gun] before being wounded in the
leg and tumbling unconscious to the bottom of the ridge.”
Inouye was eventually taken to a field hospital, where his right arm
was amputated without the use of anesthesia.
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Army 2nd Lt. Daniel Inouye (front left) smiles with Bob Dole (front right) at
Percy Jones Army Hospital in Battle Creek, Michigan, after the war.
(Photo courtesy of Robert Dole Library)
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Despite the loss of his arm, Inouye stayed in the Army
until he was honorably discharged in 1947. By then, he had
received the Bronze Star, Purple Heart and Distinguished
Service Cross. The latter was upgraded to the Medal of Honor
in the 1990s by President Bill Clinton. Nineteen other
members of the 442nd were honored with him.
Inouye
began a political career in 1959, working in the U.S. House
of Representatives until 1962, when he was elected to the
Senate. He spent the next 50 years there, representing his
home state. He was considered the highest-ranking
Asian-American politician in U.S. history by the time he
died in December 2012. He still held office at the time. He
was 88.
Many buildings
have been named in his honor over the years, including the
Hart-Dole-Inouye Federal Center in Michigan. It’s the site
of the hospital Inouye recovered in after the war, and where
he met another wounded officer who became his lifelong
friend – Bob Dole. The building is named in their honor, as
well as that of another patient who became a U.S. Senator,
Philip Hart. The recently built POW/MIA Accounting Agency
building at Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam was named in
Inouye’s honor, too.
On another note, the 442nd
Regimental Combat Team became the most highly decorated
regiment in U.S. history. More than 18,000 individual
decorations for bravery, 9,500 Purple Hearts and nine
Distinguished Service Crosses were awarded, while 21 men
received the Medal of Honor.
Daniel Inouye's Medal of Honor Citation
By Katie Lange
D0D News
Copyright 2017
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