Daniel Inouye Interview (page: 5 / 6) Medal of Honor	Print Interview

Tell us about the attack on Pearl Harbor. Can you tell us how that day started out for you?

Get the Flash Player to see this video. Daniel Inouye: I was, like the rest of the family, getting ready for church. It was Sunday, December 7, 1941. And as every Sunday, I had the little radio on, listening to music, and the disc jockey was saying, "The next song is this and this and this...". And he'd be playing, and I was putting on my necktie, and all of a sudden he started screaming, "The Japs are bombing us! This is no exercise!" And I said, "Well, this is crazy. It must be part of the show." You know? Because Orson Welles had done something like that just about that time. So I didn't take it seriously. But then he kept on it. Screaming and yelling. No music. So I decided to go out, and I looked out towards Pearl Harbor, and my God! There were puffs, anti-aircraft, and aircraft flying, and all of a sudden three of them, flew above us, above me. It was grey with red dots on the wing. I knew they were Japanese. I used some profanity then, but I figured the world had come to an end there. So I called my father and said, "You'd better come out and take a look," and I immediately knew what I have to do. I took off my Sunday clothes, put on my work clothes, went to the Aid Station, and I was away for about a week.

So you saw the first casualties come in that day?

Get the Flash Player to see this video. Daniel Inouye: On the first day I was in charge of that team, stretcher team. First was a woman, I'll never forget, part of her head was sliced off. Shrapnel. But ironically, it happened that these shells were our shells. In the excitement, the crew in charge of the anti-aircraft battery had forgotten to put the timer on. See, the shells have to have a timer, so that when it gets up to a certain height it explodes. Sometimes you want it lower, sometimes you want it higher. But this time they forgot to do it, so it just went up and down. It hit the ground and exploded. And so it just happened that it hit right in our neighborhood. The first one was this old lady having breakfast. The second one was about six people, the shops had just opened. And the worst one was a mother holding her child. Her head was sliced off, her legs were sliced off. And the baby's head -- clop! --in the bottom. There's a little story to this, because that afternoon the husband, who happened to be away on the other side of the island doing some work, came by for them when the war started, and looked for his family, came to the Aid Station. "Is my wife wounded?" I said, "Yes." "I'd like to see her." I said, "No." And he insisted, and the doctor said, "Show her to him." I said, "Doc, if you show that remains to him, he's going to go nuts." Sure enough, he ended up in the insane asylum. That's how it happens. So I was ready for the war.

You were ready to sign up. Is it true they wouldn't take you at first?

Get the Flash Player to see this video. Daniel Inouye: I had gone to the Draft Board to say, "I want to sign up," and they said, "No, you are 4-C." I had no idea what 4-C was, though. So I had to inquire, "What is a 4-C?" "You're enemy." Ho! To be told by a fellow American that you're an enemy, that's stunning. I could never forget that. I was just 18 at that time. And like most young men I wanted to serve my country. Put on a uniform and do our business. Well, about three weeks after the bombing we got word that we of Japanese ancestry, were declared to be 4-C. 1-A is physically fit and mentally alert. 4-F is, something's wrong with you physically or mentally. 4-C is the designation for "enemy alien." I was made an enemy, and as a result, I was not qualified to put on the uniform. So I couldn't be drafted, I couldn't volunteer. So we got together, Japanese Americans, and began petitioning the President to say, "Look, give us an opportunity to show our stuff." And in December of 1942 a decision was made, was announced in January, that they'll take volunteers to form a Japanese American regiment. And 85 percent of those in Hawaii who were qualified volunteered. Pretty good. To make a long story short, I got in at 18. I was second to the last to get in, because I was exempted, 'cause I was in the Aid Station, and I was in college as a pre-med. Doctors and pre-meds were set aside as essential, and those of us in the Aid Station were considered essential. So I quit school, I quit my job, and I went back and I said, "I'm ready." So I got in. I was one of the youngest in the regiment. I got a commission. I was too young, but they gave me a commission when I was 20. But at the age of 19 I was a platoon leader.

[ Key to Success ] Perseverance

While you were trying to enlist, wasn't this the same time that Japanese Americans on the mainland were being interned?

Get the Flash Player to see this video. Daniel Inouye: A decision had been made, just about the same time, to put them all in camps. So initially they were put in whatever was available. So thousands spent time in Santa Anita race track, where the horses slept. Those were strange days for them. And when the camps were made, they were just wooden shacks. They were shipped off to faraway, desolate places in New Mexico, Arizona, Utah, Arkansas, away from big cities and such, 120,000 of 'em. And none of them had committed a crime. Later on, after the war, when the investigations were held -- not a single violator of the law.

What were the feelings of your community in Hawaii about what was happening to Japanese Americans on the mainland?

Daniel Inouye: We had no idea, because everything was censored. The newspapers were all censored. There were people who knew about it, but not a young kid of 17 or 18.

Get the Flash Player to see this video. I had no idea. When we got on the ship to go to California, it was my first trip outside Hawaii. We had no idea where we were headed for. When we got to Oakland the word came down we were going to Mississippi. And the only thing that most of us could think about in Mississippi was what we read. They lynch people there. That's what you read in the papers. So the outlook wasn't that good. We got on the train, and we were told that whenever we approached a city, a word will come down and we bring down the shade. Understandably, because if we went through this railroad station and the shades were up, and people looked in and saw me, they would think I'm a prisoner of war. I look Asian. So they thought the best way to avoid problems is to lock up the train, and we would lift up the shades when we left the town or the village or the city. So we saw beautiful America -- Grand Canyon and places like that. But when we got to Mississippi -- this must have been about five days later -- we expected the worst, and lo and behold, there were about 50 women lined up at the train station in gray Red Cross uniforms. They were all white women. And it was quite an eye-opener, because in Hawaii I had never been served by a white woman. Most of the waitresses and waiters where I went to dine, the little coffee shops and such, were all Japanese or Chinese or Filipinos. So this was elegant white ladies serving us coffee and donuts. And then, later on, several families opened their farms and invited us to come over. But the real kicker was the U.S.O. About a month after we arrived there, they sent an invitation: "We're having a dance for you. So if you're interested, we'll be at this auditorium," what have you. And I decided I'd go. My first dance was with a blonde! Never had one before. That's achievement! When you consider coming up with the background I had, it was an achievement. How can you ever forget that? It was very pleasant. It gave us a little drive that America wasn't bad, even if they declared that I was an enemy alien. And I was an enemy alien until the end of the war.

[ Key to Success ] The American Dream

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