Academy presents Thayer Award to Inouye

Inouye enlisted in the U.S. Army’s 442nd Regimental Combat Team in 1943 at the age of 18. He was soon promoted to sergeant and was a combat platoon leader during the Italian campaign.

In 1944, Inouye’s unit went to the French Vosges Mountains, spending two weeks rescuing a Texas battalion surrounded by German forces. "The Lost Battalion" as it was called, is listed in Army annals as one of the most significant battles of the war.

Inouye spent 20 months in Army hospitals after being severely wounded while assaulting a heavily defended hill in Italy.

Honorably-discharged on May 27, 1947, he returned home as a captain with the Distinguished Service Cross, the second highest award for military valor, Bronze Star, Purple Heart with cluster and 12 other medals and citations. His Distinguished Service Cross was upgraded to a Medal of Honor, the nation’s highest award for military valor, June 21, 2000.

The senior senator has fought for improved education and health care for all children, affordable housing, additional jobs, health and human services in rural communities and for protection of our natural resources.

Recently, the Asian Pacific American Institute for Congressional Studies inaugurated a fellowship program in honor of Inouye. The Daniel K. Inouye Fellowship was designed to encourage a college graduate with commitment to the Asian Pacific American community, to pursue a public policy career. The fellowship was for nine months, from June 2001 to March 2002 and provided a $15,000 stipend to cover travel, housing and personal expenses.

"I find it most difficult to find the appropriate words to express my gratitude to all of you. I was especially moved by the Corps’ brilliant performance at the retreat parade -- it brought back many memories," Inouye said.

Named after the fifth superintendent of West Point, Sylvanus Thayer, the AOG presents the Thayer Award to citizens who exemplify the ideals of "Duty, Honor, Country" and whose services or accomplishments represent this nations interests.

The first Thayer Award was presented in 1958 to Dr. Ernest Orlando Lawrence, a nuclear physicist who won the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1939. Dr. Lawrence, while still an associate professor, conceived the idea of the cyclotron, a device which made it possible to smash atoms and transmute elements without the use of methods both dangerous as well as expensive.

Other notable recipients of the Thayer Award were Nobel Prize winner Henry Kissinger, Colin Powell, Barbara Jordan, Dwight Eisenhower and Bob Hope.