Interviews

1. Responding to the U.S. government

2. Recalling Pearl Harbor

3. First election

4. A story about his mother

5. A story about his father

6. The FBI and the radio

7. Father’s words

Daniel K. Inouye

(1924-2012) Senator of Hawaii

A story about his mother

But her neighbors, you know, feeling sorry for her, would take her in for a couple of weeks, another neighbor takes her in for a couple of weeks. And after about a month of this a Hawaiian couple came by and inquired, she said, “We heard of this orphaned Japanese, where is she?” And they pointed my mother out, they went up, “Follow us.” and she lived with this Hawaiian family for about a year. And this apparently was the happiest moments of her life.

*I: And she was how old again?

‘Bout four at that time. And she went around barefooted, played with the Hawaiian kids, see from these Japanese plantation camps, she went to live with the Hawaiians, did a lot of swimming and all of that. And she spoke Hawaiian, she loved the Hawaiians, that’s why I am so dedicated to the Hawaiian cause, because my mother always said, “You owe a lot because I owe a lot to the Hawaiians and I can’t do it, but you can.”

*”I” indicates an interviewer.

families Hawai'i identity United States

Date: May 31, 2001

Location: California, US

Contributed by: Watase Media Arts Center, Japanese American National Museum

Interviewee Bio

Senator Daniel K. Inouye was born September 7, 1924 in Honolulu, Hawai‘i. He witnessed the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor and at the age of 18 he enlisted in the U.S. Army and joined the 442nd Regimental Combat Team.

Following the Rescue of the Lost Battalion, Senator Inouye was awarded a Bronze Star and received a battlefield commission as a Second Lieutenant. Later, in intense fighting in Italy, Senator Inouye lost his right arm from an exploding grenade. For his action that day, he was awarded the Distinguished Service Cross, the nation's second highest award for military valor.

Following the war, Senator Inouye became Hawai‘i’s first representative in Congress when Hawai‘i achieved statehood in 1959. In 1962 he was elected to the United States Senate and has been re-elected every six years since then. Senator Inouye, a Democrat, was the first American of Japanese descent to serve in either House of Congress.

In 2000, Senator Inouye and 20 other Asian American veterans were honored in a ceremony at the White House. The medals they had earned in World War II were given a long-overdue and deserving upgrade to the Medal of Honor.

He passed away on December 17, 2012 at age 88. (December 2012)