
...In his book "Just Americans: The Story of the 100th Batallion/442nd Regimental Combat Team in World War II", author Robert Asahina includes scores of heroic actions by unit members. One young soldier named Daniel Inouye, who would later become the U.S. Senator from Hawaii, was in Italy fighting alongside his comrades to take a hill occupied by German soldiers when he found he could no longer stand or walk. He did not know why. "And later he found out he had been shot in the stomach, but he kept climbing up the hill. A machine gun nest was firing at him. He threw a grenade, knocked out that machine gun nest," recounts Asahina. "Another machine gun nest opened up on him. A German soldier stood up with a grenade launcher, launched a grenade straight at Inouye." Inouye was carrying a live grenade in his right hand when the German grenade hit him, nearly severing his right arm. "[Inouye] grabbed the live grenade out of his right hand with his left hand," continues Asahina, "threw it into the machine gun nest, blew up that machine gun nest, fell to the ground, crawled up the ground, then got hit a third time by another rifleman before he was knocked out'...more...