The U.S. Senator from Hawaii died today at 88. In the clip above, he recalls what he did in the heat of battle against the Nazis, a feat of insane courage that won him the Medal of Honor. Here’s what the Medal of Honor citation said:
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.
What it doesn’t say, but he tells in the clip above, is that he reached down to pry a live grenade out of his right hand, dangling at the end of his destroyed arm, and tossed it into the Nazi machine gun nest.
That was a man. RIP.
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Inouye and his fellow Hawaiian Daniel Akaka were the last veterans of World War II in the Senate. With this death and the expiration of Akaka’s term in two weeks, there will be none, nearly seventy years since the end of that war.
Inouye was a genuine war hero, as George HW Bush, Robert Dole, John McCain, Robert Kerrey, and John Glenn, among others, are, and as George McGovern (who also died recently) was, among others.
Yet many of these war-hero political leaders have over the decades pursued policies that have been devastating to the Republic for which they fought and sacrificed so bravely. The “Greatest Generation” (a term I dislike) gave us Vietnam, open borders, free trade, Middle East machinations creating the blowback of terrorism and revolutions, affirmative action, abortion on demand, the first few trillion or so of our ballooning debt, and much else in the way of preventable evils. Vietnam hero John McCain is an indefatigable and reflexive proponent of nation-destroying globalism in foreign affairs, trade, and immigration. McGovern, heroic in World War II and in his opposition to the Vietnam debacle, was sadly in favor of the wicked and foolish scheme of forced bussing for school integration — just not for his own kids, who attended lily-white suburban schools.
What comes to my mind is the biblical David, heroic as both a lowly shepherd boy with a slingshot and a warrior leader in battle, yet disgracing himself and his throne with Uriah and Bathsheba, thus planting the seed of rebellion in his son Absalom which then tore the kingdom asunder. Also I think of Petain, the hero of Verdun and the villain of Vichy.
It is all so very tragic.