Captain Daniel Ken Inouye was a former U.S. Army soldier who was a recipient of the U.S. military’s highest award for valor, the Medal of Honor, for his heroic actions during World War II. Born September 7th, 1924 in Honolulu, Honolulu County, HI, he was a Nisei Japanese-American (an American-born child of Japanese immigrants) and grew up in the Bingham Tract, a Chinese-American within the predominantly Japanese-American community of Mo’ili’ili in Honolulu. In 1943, when the U.S. The Army dropped its ban on Japanese-Americans serving in the military while carrying arms, and Inouye halted his premedical studies and enlisted in the Army. He was assigned to the Nisei 442nd Regimental Combat Team, which became the most highly decorated unit in the history of the Army. Inouye was part of the Company E unit in the U.S. Army in WW2, composed alongside soldiers of Japanese ancestry. 

Daniel Inouye served in the U.S. Army during World War II, from 1943 to 1947. Within his first year, Inouye was promoted to the rank of Sergeant and assigned the responsibility of platoon leader. During the Rome-Arno Campaign in 1944, he spent the year serving in Italy. After that, he was transferred to France’s Vosges Mountains, where he spent about two weeks looking for the lost unit, a Texas unit that was encircled by German forces. As a result of his work there, he was elevated to the rank of Second Lieutenant. 

On 21 April 1945, Inouye’s heroism came to life. He was on the path to lead an assault on a heavily-defended ridge near Terenzo called Colle Musatello. In the vicinity of San Terenzo, Italy (as seen above), the ridge served as a strong point 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. 

Second Lieutenant Inouye expertly led his platoon through a hail of automatic weapons and small arms fire while attacking a fortified ridge guarding a crucial road junction. His quick movement led to the capture of an artillery and mortar post and brought his men to within 40 yards of the enemy force. The Germans, hidden in rock outcrops and bunkers, stopped the approach with crossfire from three machine guns. The closest machine gun was five yards away, but Inouye carelessly climbed the hill to get there. He then threw two grenades at the position to destroy it. He got to his feet and destroyed a second machine gun nest before the Germans could respond. Inouye crept toward the final bunker and got within 10 yards of it as his team distracted the third machine gunner. 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 [him] anymore” as he cocked his arm to throw his final grenade into the fighting position. 

Fearing that his severed fist would involuntarily relax and drop the grenade, Inouye’s horrified soldiers moved to his aid but he shouted for them to stay back. Inouye was successful in transferring the live grenade from the German’s useless right hand to his left as he reloaded his rifle inside the bunker. Inouye was finally able to throw the grenade off-hand into the bunker and destroy it as the German aimed his rifle to kill him. He stumbled to his feet and moved forward, stifling the last German resistance with a one-handed burst from his Thompson before falling unconscious to the ridge’s base. 

It was almost over. But one last German, before his death, squeezed off a final burst, and a bullet wounded his right left as he rolled down the hill. At the point when he got up to see the concerned men of his group hovering over him, his only comment before being carried away was to order them to return to their positions, since, as he pointed out, “nobody had called off the war.”

The raid resulted in the deaths of 25 enemy soldiers and the capture of eight more. Second Lieutenant Inouye helped his battalion break through stiff resistance and take the ridge via the use of courageous, aggressive tactics and unyielding leadership

For his combat heroism, which cost him his right arm, Inouye was awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor, the Distinguished Service Cross, the Bronze Star, and the Purple Heart with Cluster. This award was accepted by him personally on June 21st, 2000, in the White House, presented by President William J. Clinton for his courage in battle. 

After his time in the field, Inouye attended college and law school and began his political career in the Hawaii territorial legislature. He later served in the U.S. House of Representatives before being elected to the Senate in 1962. Inouye was one of the first people to represent Hawaii in the United States Congress when it became the 50th state. He served as the Senate’s president pro tempore from 2010 until his death in 2012, and he was a longtime member of the Senate Appropriations Committee, which he chaired from 2009 to 2012. Unfortunately, Inouye passed away on December 17th, 2012 in Bethesda (Walter Reed), MD, United States, and was buried in the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific in Honolulu HI. Until his death, however, he served in the United States Senate as the senior Senator from the State of Hawaii. In 2013 Senator Inouye was posthumously awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom, becoming the first—and to date, only—senator to receive both the Medal of Freedom and the Medal of Honor.

MoH Citation: https://www.cmohs.org/recipients/daniel-k-inouye

For conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity at risk of his life above and beyond the call of duty. 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.”

References:

“Daniel K. Inouye.” Congressional Medal of Honor Society. Accessed May 15, 2023. https://www.cmohs.org/kiosk/recipients/daniel-k-inouye.

“Daniel K. Inouye.” The National WWII Museum. Accessed May 15, 2023. https://www.nationalww2museum.org/war/articles/442nd-regimental-combat-team.

“Daniel K. Inouye.” United States Senate. Accessed May 15, 2023. https://www.senate.gov/about/images/inouye-daniel-ken.htm.

“Daniel K. Inouye.” United States Senate – Recipients of the Presidential Medal of Freedom. Accessed May 15, 2023. https://www.senate.gov/senators/SenatorsPresidentialMedalFreedom.htm.

“Daniel K. Inouye.” U.S. House of Representatives History, Art & Archives. Accessed May 15, 2023. https://history.house.gov/People/Detail/15647.

“Daniel K. Inouye.” U.S. Navy History and Heritage Command. Accessed May 15, 2023. https://www.history.navy.mil/browse-by-topic/people/namesakes/daniel-inouye.html.

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“Daniel Inouye (Nisei) Honor.” U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs. Accessed May 15, 2023. https://news.va.gov/75345/daniel-inouye-nisei-honor/.

“Daniel Inouye Papers.” University of Hawaii at Manoa Library. Accessed May 15, 2023. https://manoa.hawaii.edu/library/research/collections/archives/hawaii-congressional-papers-collection/daniel-k-inouye-papers/.

“Daniel Ken ‘Dan’ Inouye.” Military Hall of Honor. Accessed May 15, 2023. https://militaryhallofhonor.com/honoree-record.php?id=1451.

“Guided Missile Destroyer Daniel Inouye to be Commissioned.” U.S. Department of Defense. Accessed May 15, 2023. https://www.defense.gov/News/Releases/Release/Article/2863762/navy-to-commission-guided-missile-destroyer-daniel-inouye/.

“The 442nd Regimental Combat Team.” Go For Broke National Education Center. Accessed May 15, 2023. https://goforbroke.org/history/unit-history/442nd-regimental-combat-team/.

“The Advocates: Army Rank.” GoArmy.com. Accessed May 15, 2023. https://www.goarmy.com/content/dam/goarmy/downloaded_assets/pdfs/advocates-army-rank.pdf.

“Inouye, Daniel Ken.” WW2DB (World War II Database). Accessed May 15, 2023. https://ww2db.com/person_bio.php?person_id=765.

“Inouye and World War II.” National Park Service. Accessed May 15, 2023. https://www.nps.gov/articles/inouyeww2.htm.