For conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity at risk of his life above an — Daniel Inouye

"It was a terrible thing to even suggest this, but many of us in the regiment felt that this was the definitive battle, that we were expendable. Thats why we were called up to save them. But we felt that, if we did well, then the curse would be taken away once and for all. And so, you can sense this in the men: When you go into a battle and they put on the bayonet, you know they mean business. So we meant business. When you put on a bayonet, thats do or die. Our motto was: Go for Broke, which is, I suppose, a slang phrase that young gamblers used to use back in Hawaii. Go for Broke means All the Way. This was a Shoot the Works battle. That means you put on the bayonet. Youre going to get them no matter what the cost. Absolutely. The cost was heavy."

"Daniel Inouye came home a captain minus one arm on his discharge May 27, 1947. Along with the Distinguished Service Cross, he held a Bronze Star, Purple Heart with cluster, and twelve other medals and citations. His Distinguished Service Cross, awarded for the action in which he lost his arm, was upgraded to the Medal of Honor at the White House on June 21, 2000. President Clinton approved the Armys recommendation to upgrade twenty-one Distinguished Service Crosses awarded to Asian-Americans in World War II to Medals of Honor. In 1950, he graduated from the University of Hawaii with a degree in economics and government. In 1952 he graduated from George Washington University Law School, and in 1959 became Hawaiis first United States congressman when he was elected to the House of Representatives. He was elected to the Senate in 1962 and has served for more than forty years. He wed Margaret Shinobu Awamura on June 12, 1948. They have a son, Daniel Jr. An official apology for the governments wrongdoing was issued to Japanese-Americans by President Ronald Reagan in 1988. He also approved $20,000 in reparations for each internee."

"When I received my Distinguished Service Cross, I must tell you that I couldnt believe it. I said, Whats this for? They said, Its for all you did there. And when I read the citation, thats when I got in touch with some of my former platoon members, and I said, What really happened? I must know. They told me that, after I threw my grenade, I picked up my tommy gun with my left hand- keep in mind that my stump is bleeding now- and I just charged up to the third gun, and I knocked that one out. I was going for the next one and I got hit in the leg, and I rolled down the hill, and thats when I woke up, I guess. And when my platoon members told me that, I said, No, it cant be. It cant be. You have to be insane to do all that. I think its all part of the training where you do things almost automatically. Its a sense of duty. Thats what they told me, and the company commander who was also observing from the backside, he said, I couldnt believe what I saw, because you were a crazy man."

"I was young and, keep in mind, you got the macho spirit, I suppose. I carried a Thompson submachine gun. Not because it was accurate- the Thompson is about as inaccurate a weapon as you can find. But its got a loud noise, oh, ho ho. If youre on the other side and you hear all this- Brrraahhhh!- you know, it will scare the bejeebers out of you. And if it does it, you know youve been hit. Its a .45-caliber slug. I recall hitting a German once and in his ankle and his foot blew off, shoe and all. Thats how powerful it is. I carried it for stopping power. I also had a sidearm plus a bag of grenades."