Daniel Inouye, WWII Medal of Honor Recipient and US Senator, Dead at 90

[vienna]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Daniel_Inouye

On December 17, 2012, Daniel Inouye, US Senator and recipient of the Medal of Honor for his actions in WWII, died after a prolonged illness. I wanted to bring attention to his passing because his life was so remarkable as an example of the American spirit. A native born Hawaiian Japanese-American, he was subject to the extreme discrimination that befell all the others of his race after Pearl Harbor. He never lost his faith in his country and served with great distinction in the war. This is the description from Wikipedia of his service:

Inouye was at the Pearl Harbor attack in 1941 as a medical volunteer.


In 1943, when the U.S. Army dropped its enlistment ban on Japanese Americans, Inouye curtailed his premedical studies at the University of Hawaii and enlisted in the Army. He volunteered to be part of the all-Nisei442nd Regimental Combat Team. This army unit was mostly made up of second-generation Japanese Americans from Hawaii and the mainland.

Inouye was promoted to the rank of sergeant within his first year, and he was given the role of platoon leader. He served in Italy in 1944 during the Rome-Arno Campaign before his regiment was transferred to the Vosges Mountains region of France, where he spent two weeks in the battle to relieve the Lost Battalion, a battalion of the 141st Infantry Regiment that was surrounded by German forces. He was promoted to the rank of second lieutenant for his actions there. At one point while he was leading an attack, a shot struck him in the chest directly above his heart, but the bullet was stopped by the two silver dollars he happened to have stacked in his shirt pocket.[9] He continued to carry the coins throughout the war in his shirt pocket as good luck charms until he lost them shortly before the battle in which he lost his arm.

On April 21, 1945, Inouye was grievously wounded while leading an assault on a heavily-defended ridge near San Terenzo in Tuscany, Italy called Colle Musatello. The ridge served as a strongpoint along the strip of German fortifications known as the Gothic Line, which represented the last and most unyielding 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 the bunker 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". 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!"

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.

Although Inouye had lost his right arm, he remained in the military until 1947 and was honorably discharged with the rank of captain. At the time of his leaving the Army, he was a recipient of the Bronze Star Medal and the Purple Heart. Inouye was initially awarded the Distinguished Service Cross for his bravery in this action, with the award later being upgraded to the Medal of Honor by President Bill Clinton (alongside 19 other Nisei servicemen who served in the 442nd Regimental Combat Team and were believed to have been denied proper recognition of their bravery due to their race). His story, along with interviews with him about the war as a whole, were featured prominently in the 2007 Ken Burns documentary The War.

While recovering from war wounds and the amputation of his right forearm from the grenade wound (mentioned above) at Percy Jones Army Hospital, Inouye met future Republican presidential candidate Bob Dole, then a fellow patient. While at the same hospital, Inouye also met future fellow Democrat and Senator Philip Hart, who had been injured on D-Day. Dole mentioned to Inouye that after the war he planned to go to Congress; Inouye beat him there by a few years. The two remained lifelong friends. In 2003, the hospital was renamed the Hart-Dole-Inouye Federal Center in honor of the three WWII veterans.

A lot of the Nisei from the 442nd settled here in Los Angeles, and I have met several of them. As the years go by, there are far fewer of them left and those who remain maintain the same quiet, humble dignity I have observed to be their normal demeanour over the 40-odd years I have lived in Los Angeles. In my junior year of high school, I recieved an honor from the VFW and it was presented to me by a veteran of the 442nd. For me, the real honor was not the medal, by having it presented to me by that gentleman who served bravely for his country when a lesser man would have turned his back as the country had turned its back on him. Those of you who have little or no knowledge of the 442nd Nisei RCT might want to look them up and see what some real American heroes they were...

Ther are precious few on the "Greatest Generation" still left and very precious few of those who served like him and his fellow soldiers. Captain and Senator Inouye, I salute you and thank you for your service and example. Rest in a well-earned peace...

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[Oberon]

George Takei mentioned this brave mans passing on his facebook page. RIP good sir, and thank you for having the courage and the love for your nation to, as vienna brilliantly put it, not turn your back on it when it turned its back on you.

[sharkbit]

RIP

He appeared a few times in Ken Burns' "The War". It amazed me then as it amazes me now how he didn't turn his back on his country with is family being locked up in internment camps back in the US.

[geetrue]

Great story ... I bet he was greeted in heaven by many he saved

[vienna]

Great story ... I bet he was greeted in heaven by many he saved

..and by many with whom he served; the 442nd had the highest casualty/fatality rate of any unit in WWII...

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[Sailor Steve]

Wow! I knew who the senator was, but not much about his life. I knew one of the Nisei back in the 1970s, while I worked at a major hobby shop here in Salt Lake. I never knew his real first name, as he went by 'Stormy' Mitsui. I mostly knew his as one of the RC-fliers group, and a regular customer. I knew he had served with the Nisei Division, but not much else, and this is the first time I've thought of him in years.

Good jouney, Mr. Inouye, and thanks for your service.

[vienna]

There is a moument to the Nisei soldiers here in Los Angeles:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Go_For_Broke_Monument

As the article mentions, vets from the 442nd are sometimes found at the monument and will answer questions about the 442nd. As time goes on, however, there are fewer and fewer times they can be found there as age takes it's toll on the remaining vets. There has been a very active effort among local historians to interview, film and document the lives of those who remain so their stories are not lost forever. There was also a dramtized miniseries produced in Japan by, IIRC, NHK about the story of Japanese immigrants and their descendents in the US. The chapter about the years of WWII showed the internment camp experience and there was a great deal shown of the actions of the 442nd. One segement dramatized the rescue of the surrounded Texas "Lost Battallion" based upon accounts given by the Nisei vets. If the actual battle was even one-half as harrowing as depicted in the drama, it was truly a bit of hell on earth...

The Nisei vets have often descibed the near-suicide missions they were sent on as falling on them because the military brass considered them "expendable". One mission took them to Italy after having gone through a fierce battle in France. With little rest and after having their strength depeleted by casualties, they were sent to break the "Gothic Line", an effort at which other Army units had failed after several weeks. The 442nd moved in on the line and, in less than a day, had broken the "Gothic Line" and turned the tide of battle. The military brass, however, feared the public reaction if news got out about exactly who was responsible for the battle's outcome and asked the Nisei to not mention their particpation to the press. As dutiful and loyal soldiers, they complied, and it was not until many years later the full story came out...

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[Stealhead]

Originally Posted by vienna

..and by many with whom he served; the 442nd had the highest casualty/fatality rate of any unit in WWII...

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This is true but the reason is not clear just looking at the numbers they had the highest overall casualty(which in US military lingo is always combined) rate not the highest number of KIA. It did have a 93% total rate including KIA,WIA,and MIA however many of its WIA where not serious injuries and many 442nd men choose to illegally return to their unit in order to keep fighting not uncommon in WWII but the 442nd had a lot of men with this level of dedication.Because of this many of its members got wounded several times raising their rate of WIA in particular.The level of dedication of 442nd members was very high far above average as a a result their ratio was higher normally a unit with a 93% rate would have been decimated more or less and have few of the original remembers in the 442nd this was not true the same men kept fighting and getting wounded.

[vienna]

I did state the it as a combined (casualty/fatality) rate, not just as WIA, KIA or MIA. The record does stand and is recognized by the US military as such. A soldier getting wounded in action on separate occasions is still listed as multiple individual actions; hence, several situations where a single soldier is awarded multiple Purple Hearts...

Collectively, the 442nd was awarded the highest number of combined medals and unit citations during WWII, including 8 Presidential Unit Citations. One of the Presidential Unit Citations was personally presented by President Truman. The day of the presentation, it was raining heavily and Truman was asked if he wanted to postpone or skip the ceremony because of the weather. The 442nd had been already standing in parade formation for quite some time in the rain. Truman replied that, for what they had done for the country and for fighting to overcome prejudice, if they could stand the rain, the least he could do is to stand it also. The ceremony went on, with some disgruntled murmiurings from high-ranking military brass in full dress uniforms who now had to stand out in the rain with their Commander-In-Chief...

EDIT:

Regarding their "illegal" actions: the war was one by men for whom the niceties of legal/illegal were trumped by the desire to serve their obligation to the fullest. Legal niceties are best left to the REMFs...

The 442nd did suffer decimation of their ranks. There is a story of how, after a very hard action resulting in very high casualties/fatalities, upon return to the staging area, a base commander who had very little knowledge of the 442nd and their reputation, ordered the caucasian unit commander (Nisei were not allowed to hold upper level rank) to assemble the soldiers for parade and inspection. The unit commander protested to the base commander the troops were exhausted and badly in need of rest. The base commander would not be swayed and the unit commander assembled the men, who now were only a small fraction of their orignal number. The base commander angrily berated the unit commander and told him that he expected his orders to be followed and how dare the men of the 442nd fail to fall in as ordered. The unit commander calmly told the base commander the few exhausted, disheveled men he saw before him were the only men in the unit not wounded or killed in action. The base commander was stunned and quietly turned way and started to weep...

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[Onkel Neal]