Medal of Honor · World War II
Daniel Ken Inouye
Second Lieutenant, U.S. Army
- Date of Action
- April 21, 1945
- Location
- Near San Terenzo, Italy
- Medal Presented
- June 21, 2000
Values Embodied
- Courage
- Sacrifice
- Citizenship
Official Citation
This citation is paraphrased from public-domain histories and is pending verbatim verification against the Congressional Medal of Honor Society archive.
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 him 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 in a secure position.
Biography
Before the War
Daniel Ken Inouye was born on September 7, 1924, in Honolulu, in the then-territory of Hawaii. His grandfather had immigrated from Japan to work the sugar-cane plantations. Dan — as friends called him — was studying medicine as a pre-med student at the University of Hawaii on December 7, 1941, when he watched from his front yard as Japanese Zeros flew overhead toward Pearl Harbor. He spent the day treating the wounded at an aid station. He was seventeen years old.
For the rest of the war he would live under a designation that did not fit him: enemy alien. Japanese Americans on the mainland were interned; those in Hawaii were initially classified as unfit for military service. When the War Department reversed course in 1943 and authorized a segregated Japanese American combat unit — the 442nd Regimental Combat Team — Inouye quit his pre-med studies to enlist. The 442nd’s motto was Go For Broke. It would become the most decorated unit for its size and length of service in the history of the U.S. Army.
The Action
By April 1945 the 442nd had fought up the boot of Italy, through France, and back to Italy. On April 21, Second Lieutenant Inouye led his platoon in an attack on a German stronghold on a ridge near San Terenzo, in the Po River campaign. Three machine guns raked the Americans from concealed positions.
Inouye crawled up the slope alone, within grenade range of the first gun, and took it out. He stood up and destroyed the second. A sniper’s bullet struck him in the stomach; he kept moving. As he drew back his arm to throw a grenade at the third gun, a German rifle-grenade struck his right elbow and nearly tore the arm off. The primed grenade was still clenched in his right fist, the pin pulled. With his left hand he pried the grenade from his own severed fingers, threw it, destroyed the third gun, and — still under fire, still losing blood — continued to direct his men until the ridge was taken.
He was awarded the Distinguished Service Cross, which was upgraded to the Medal of Honor in 2000, when it was determined that bias against Japanese American soldiers had led to many of the unit’s nominations being downgraded. President Clinton presented the medal personally.
After the War
Inouye’s right arm could not be saved. He had planned to become a surgeon; he chose law instead. He served in the U.S. House of Representatives, then — for 49 years and 15 days — in the U.S. Senate, the longest-tenured senator of his time. He was the first Japanese American elected to Congress, chaired the Senate Watergate Committee, and was President pro tempore of the Senate at his death on December 17, 2012. He is buried at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific in Honolulu.