Episode 137: Sons of Hawaii, Part III

 

Senator Daniel K. Inouye served through the administrations of ten US presidents, including Ghost of Arlington, John F. Kennedy (above) and JFK's successor, Lyndon B. Johnson (below).

President Bill Clinton presented Inouye with the Medal of Honor when his Distinguished Service Cross, earned in World War II, was upgraded in 2000 (below).

Senator Inouye is one of only 38 people to lay in state in the US Capitol Building. Hundreds of people paid their respects, including life-long friend, fellow-wounded veteran, and senator Bob Dole (below).

After lying in state in Washington DC, he laid in state at the Hawaii Statehouse before being interred at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific in Section D, Grave 391-A.

Episode 136: Sons of Hawaii, Part II

Danny Inouye wanted to be a doctor when he grew up - specifically, he wanted to be a surgeon. When he was a senior in high school he was a Red Cross volunteer. When the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor he saw the planes flying over Honolulu and rushed to an aid station where he treated civilians injured by falling anti-aircraft shells.

As soon as he could, Danny enlisted in the army and was sent to Italy with the 442nd Regimental Combat Team. The war shattered his dream of becoming a doctor but a fellow wounded veteran, Bob Dole (yes, that Bob Dole) told him of his plan to become a lawyer and a politician in Kansas. Danny liked the sound of that, returned to Hawaii and entered politics as well. Little did he know he would become arguably the most influential politician in the history of Hawaii, whether the Kingdom, the Republic, or the State.

Captain Inouye (front, far left) next to Captain Bob Dole (left, profile, card in left hand) and other wounded veterans in a rehabilitation hospital that would one day bear both Inouye and Dole's names.

Episode 135: Sons of Hawaii, Part I

 

Already an Army officer before Pearl Harbor, Spark Matsunaga was one of the 100th Infantry Battalion's junior officers when that unit was stood up. He had hoped that by volunteering for active duty in the pre-war military would prove his loyalty but he was treated with the same suspicion as all Nisei US citizens.

After the war, Matsunaga used his GI Bill to attend Harvard Law School. Upon graduation, he returned to Hawaii and in 1959 was elected to that state's first state legislature. In time, the electorate of Hawaii would send Matsunaga to Washington, DC. First as a member of the US House of Representatives and then as a US Senator.

Matsunaga was well respected by members of both his own Democrat party as well as the opposition Republicans, including President Ronald Reagan (left).

US Senator and Army Lieutenant Colonel Spark Masayuki Matsunaga died on April 15, 1990, at age 73. He was buried at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific in Section V, Grave 334-B under the epitaph "Beloved Son of Hawaii."

Episode 134: Tales from Punchbowl, Part VII

 

Army Brigadier General Francis Shigeo Takemoto was the first Japanese American general officer in the US military. He was promoted to brigadier general in the Hawaii National Guard by Hawaii Governor in January 1964. In February 1964 he was nominated by President Lyndon Johnson to be promoted to brigadier general in the US Army Reserves. That nomination was confirmed by the full US Senate two weeks later.

Brigadier General Takemoto passed away on May 26, 2002; he was 89 years old. His ashes were installed at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific in Columbarium Court 3, Row 300, niche 304.

Army Captain Allan Masaharu Ohata was a quiet achieve who went above and beyond the call of duty but did not like to ask others for help and almost never spoke of the war once he returned from Europe. Many of his closest friends who met him after the war had no idea he was a veteran until he passed away.

Captain Ohata passed away on October 17, 1977 after a battle with cancer; he was 59 years old. He was interred at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific in Section III, Grave 474.