AANHPI: Daniel Inouye

What this episode covers

An american hero in every respect, Hawaii senator Daniel Inouye started his long career of public service at just 17, volunteering for the red cross and tending to soldiers injured in the pearl harbor attack. Inouye put his dream of becoming a surgeon on hold to join the army, enlisting in the storied 442nd regimental combat team - comprised mainly of second-generation japanese american men. Through his service in world war two, Inouye earned the distinguished Silver Cross, Bronze Star, and Purple Heart, after losing his arm in a grenade blast in Italy. Politics came next; Daniel Inouye became the first congressman to serve Hawaii after it achieved statehood in 1959, then joined the Senate in 1962 until his death in 2012. Inouye was the first Japanese-American person to serve in each house.   Inouye was awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor in the year 2000 along with 19 other veterans of the 442nd, after Congress and the U.S. Military reviewed the cases of men who may have been denied the honor due to racism. In 2013, President Barack Obama posthumously awarded him the Presidential Medal of Freedom - making Daniel Inouye the first - and to date, the only - senator to receive the nation's two highest honors.   Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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