"Americanism is not and has never been a matter of race or color. Americanism is a matter of mind and heart."-- FDR
After the attack on Pearl Harbor there was a lot of ambiguity towards Japanese-Americans. At the beginning of the war, a person of Japanese descent--a citizen--was classified 4-C, meaning "Enemy Alien". Undraftable. Eventually two all-Japanese-American units (the 100th Battalion and the 442nd Regimental Combat Team) were created.
The 442nd got its first major operational test in the Fall of 1944, when a company of Texas National Guardsmen were trapped, surrounded, and pinned down in the Vosges Mountains by nearly a full division of German troops. The 442nd was to be their relief. The 4,200 men fought 5 days, often hand-to-hand, got to the Texans and fought their way out. 30% casualties. One member of the outfit from Hawaii, Daniel Inouye, a second generation Japanese-American, was issued a Bronze star and a commission to Second Lieutenant for his actions.
Later Inouye's platoon was ordered to capture a German strong point along the Colle Musatello Ridge. He led his team through intense fire to capture an observation post, a mortar team, and an artillery position, and then moved his troops within 40 yards of a heavily-fortified defensive line, where they immediately came under heavy suppressing fire from three different heavy machine gun positions. During the initial firefight he was shot through the abdomen. Instead of withdrawing, he assaulted the first machine gun nest on his own, taking it out with a grenade from just five yards away and then clearing the rest of it out with his Thompson gun. When that one was taken care of, Inouye sprinted to a second position and destroyed it with two grenades. As he attacked the third position, he was hit with a rifle-mounted grenade point blank which gave him multiple wounds and shredded his right arm. He pried the grenade out of his useless right hand with his left hand and tossed it into the nest. He then cleared out the third machine gun position with the Tommy Gun, changed the magazine, and then started running towards the main body of the enemy position, by himself, shooting the machine gun with his off-hand, rampaging like a madman. Eventually Inouye was shot in the leg, lost his footing, and fell down a hill. All told, he had killed 25 Germans and wounded 8 more by himself.
Daniel Inouye received the Distinguished Service Cross, which was later upgraded to the Medal of Honor. He lost the arm and had it replaced with a hook, and after 20 months of surgery and recovery in various military hospitals, he went home, got a law degree, and worked as a prosecuting attorney. In 1962 he was elected to the Senate thus making him the first Japanese-American in Congress.
After the attack on Pearl Harbor there was a lot of ambiguity towards Japanese-Americans. At the beginning of the war, a person of Japanese descent--a citizen--was classified 4-C, meaning "Enemy Alien". Undraftable. Eventually two all-Japanese-American units (the 100th Battalion and the 442nd Regimental Combat Team) were created.
The 442nd got its first major operational test in the Fall of 1944, when a company of Texas National Guardsmen were trapped, surrounded, and pinned down in the Vosges Mountains by nearly a full division of German troops. The 442nd was to be their relief. The 4,200 men fought 5 days, often hand-to-hand, got to the Texans and fought their way out. 30% casualties. One member of the outfit from Hawaii, Daniel Inouye, a second generation Japanese-American, was issued a Bronze star and a commission to Second Lieutenant for his actions.
Later Inouye's platoon was ordered to capture a German strong point along the Colle Musatello Ridge. He led his team through intense fire to capture an observation post, a mortar team, and an artillery position, and then moved his troops within 40 yards of a heavily-fortified defensive line, where they immediately came under heavy suppressing fire from three different heavy machine gun positions. During the initial firefight he was shot through the abdomen. Instead of withdrawing, he assaulted the first machine gun nest on his own, taking it out with a grenade from just five yards away and then clearing the rest of it out with his Thompson gun. When that one was taken care of, Inouye sprinted to a second position and destroyed it with two grenades. As he attacked the third position, he was hit with a rifle-mounted grenade point blank which gave him multiple wounds and shredded his right arm. He pried the grenade out of his useless right hand with his left hand and tossed it into the nest. He then cleared out the third machine gun position with the Tommy Gun, changed the magazine, and then started running towards the main body of the enemy position, by himself, shooting the machine gun with his off-hand, rampaging like a madman. Eventually Inouye was shot in the leg, lost his footing, and fell down a hill. All told, he had killed 25 Germans and wounded 8 more by himself.
Daniel Inouye received the Distinguished Service Cross, which was later upgraded to the Medal of Honor. He lost the arm and had it replaced with a hook, and after 20 months of surgery and recovery in various military hospitals, he went home, got a law degree, and worked as a prosecuting attorney. In 1962 he was elected to the Senate thus making him the first Japanese-American in Congress.
After a 50-year career in the Senate — the second longest ever — Hawaiian senator Daniel Inouye died in 2012 at the age of 88. According to staff, his last word was aloha.
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