Sen. Daniel Inouye of Hawai’i died today at Walter Reed Hospital. He was 88 years old. He has been one of Hawai’i’s senators since January 1963. Before that, he served as their House representative. I think it is worth remembering his heroic service in World War Two:
Second Lieutenant Daniel K. Inouye distinguished himself by extraordinary heroism in action on 21 April 1945, in the vicinity of San Terenzo, Italy. While attacking a defended ridge guarding an important road junction, Second Lieutenant Inouye skillfully directed his platoon through a hail of automatic weapon and small arms fire, in a swift enveloping movement that resulted in the capture of an artillery and mortar post and brought his men to within 40 yards of the hostile force. Emplaced in bunkers and rock formations, the enemy halted the advance with crossfire from three machine guns. With complete disregard for his personal safety, Second Lieutenant Inouye crawled up the treacherous slope to within five yards of the nearest machine gun and hurled two grenades, destroying the emplacement. Before the enemy could retaliate, he stood up and neutralized a second machine gun nest. Although wounded by a sniper’s bullet, he continued to engage other hostile positions at close range until an exploding grenade shattered his right arm. Despite the intense pain, he refused evacuation and continued to direct his platoon until enemy resistance was broken and his men were again deployed in defensive positions. In the attack, 25 enemy soldiers were killed and eight others captured. By his gallant, aggressive tactics and by his indomitable leadership, Second Lieutenant Inouye enabled his platoon to advance through formidable resistance, and was instrumental in the capture of the ridge. Second Lieutenant Inouye’s extraordinary heroism and devotion to duty are in keeping with the highest traditions of military service and reflect great credit on him, his unit, and the United States Army.
He may be the most important person in modern Hawaiian history, including the current president of the United States. At the time of his death, he was serving as the chairman of the Senate Appropriations Committee. I expect that job will now fall to Patrick Leahy of Vermont. There will be a reshuffling of the committee chairs in the Senate.
But, we can leave that for another day. Sen. Inouye was an American hero before he ever became a senator. And then he became one of the most legendary senators in our country’s history. His last word was “Aloha.”
Aloha, Sen. Inouye. Thanks for everything.
RIP, Senator.
Thank you.
He seems to have been an extraordinarily brave man. Is it just me, or do we rarely hear of Republican leaders doing similar things for their country? Or are they primarily armchair generals and demagogues whipping up others to go to war, willing to fight to the last drop of everyone elses blood?
Bob Dole was also wounded in Italy. Plenty of brave men from all political persuasions. Bob Kerrey and Chuck Hagel and John Kerry from Vietnam era.
George McGovern, too. You know, the wacko far left liberal hippie who lost in 1972. A decorated WW2 hero.
Nice piece.
The comments were good too
Aloha, Senator. 🙁
Nearly fifty years service in the Senate. He voluntarily enlisted in the military and worked his way up from private, serving gallantly and bravely, showing leadership. At one point, while leading an attack, he was shot in the chest, just above the heart. His life was saved by two silver dollars, stacked in his shirt pocket.
As if that weren’t enough, check this out (from Wikipedia):
The ridge served as a strongpoint along the strip of German fortifications known as the Gothic Line, which represented the last and most dogged line of German defensive works in Italy. As he led his platoon in a flanking maneuver, three German machine guns opened fire from covered positions just 40 yards away, pinning his men to the ground. Inouye stood up to attack and was shot in the stomach; ignoring his wound, he proceeded to attack and destroy the first machine gun nest with hand grenades and fire from his Thompson submachine gun. After being informed of the severity of his wound by his platoon sergeant, he refused treatment and rallied his men for an attack on the second machine gun position, which he also successfully destroyed before collapsing from blood loss.
As his squad distracted the third machine gunner, Inouye crawled toward the final bunker, eventually drawing within 10 yards. As he raised himself up and cocked his arm to throw his last grenade into the fighting position, a German inside fired a rifle grenade that struck him on the right elbow, severing most of his arm and leaving his own primed grenade reflexively “clenched in a fist that suddenly didn’t belong to me anymore”.[10] 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. As 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 German aimed his rifle to finish him off, Inouye tossed the grenade off-hand 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 before being wounded in the leg and tumbling unconscious to the bottom of the ridge. When he awoke to see the concerned men of his platoon hovering over him, his only comment before being carried away was to gruffly order them to return to their positions, since, as he pointed out, “nobody called off the war!”[11]
The remainder of Inouye’s mutilated right arm was later amputated at a field hospital without proper anesthesia, as he had been given too much morphine at an aid station and it was feared any more would lower his blood pressure enough to kill him.
I had no idea of the extent of Inouye’s heroism until now. You were truly a great man. Mahalo and Godspeed to you, sir.
I echo the Rest In Peace wishes.
Unfortunately I have only one memory of Sen Inouye and it still is a memory that makes me furious. No, it is nothing he did – it’s of the reich wing’s reaction to him.
He was on the committee investigating Iran-Contra and he did a lot of great questioning of Oliver North. The Reich Wing was furious. Who was this obviously unAmerican foreign-looking guy questioning their True American Hero ™???
Of course we know the real story. North is the kind of fake war hero the wingnuts love – like Stallone as Rambo or Reagan as himself or GWB as the war pilot with the big package (I will never forgive you for your reaction to that day, Chris Matthews) or Don Dumsfeld and his band of draft dodgers. They were incapable of seeing the real war heroism of Inouye because they couldn’t get past their deep racism.
Sorry to mention that and hope it doesn’t despoil his memory. The only reason i post this and don’t delete it is that this underscores the racism that he faced all his life. Remember that when he was suffering his wounds and losing his arm people of his race were locked in camps in the US based solely on their race, yet still he fought for his country.
He really is too unappreciated.
One of the best and one of the Senate twenty-one that voted against the Iraq War Resolution. In the spirit world, he’ll be hanging with Wellstone and Kennedy.
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Guess Biden just overlooked or forgot to mention that Inouye did the moral thing when he voted against the IWR. A better man wouldn’t have omitted that.
Do the research. The web’s a wonderful thing.
You be the judge.
AG