Medal of Honor

In June 2000, Dan received the Medal of Honor, the highest military decoration awarded by the U.S. Government.  Bestowed to servicemen and women who risked their lives above and beyond the call of duty during combat, only about 3,400 medals have been awarded to American military servicemen and women since the medal was first established in 1862. 

Dan received the award as a result of bravery he demonstrated on April 21st, 1945, near the town of San Terenzo, Italy, on the day he was seriously injured.

On that day, while attacking an enemy ridge, U.S. Army Second Lieutenant Inouye led his platoon through a hail of automatic weapon and small arms fire and brought his men to within 40 yards of the enemy.  But the enemy pushed back hard.  Three German machine gunners, each installed in his own nest, successfully halted the advance of American G.I.s. 

This medal Dan earned.

But not for long.  Dan crawled up a slope to within five yards of the nearest machine gun and hurled two grenades, destroying the emplacement.  Although already wounded by a sniper’s bullet, Dan kept fighting.  Before the enemy could retaliate, he neutralized a second machine gun nest.  Then the grenade hit.  Its blast rendered Dan’s right arm dead.  He looked down at horror at the exposed bone, muscle and tissue dangling from his shoulder joint.  In his right fist was clinched a grenade.  His fingers—gripped fiercely around the grenade and no longer taking orders from his brain—refused to budge.  With life and death literally a fraction of a second away, Dan used this left hand to pry from the palm of his right the live grenade and tossed it away.  And Dan kept fighting.  Despite the intense pain, he refused evacuation and continued to direct his platoon until enemy resistance was broken.  Second Lieutenant Inouye and his platoon captured the ridge.