Pearl Harbor Day
Floor Speech
Mr. INOUYE. Mr. President, today is December 7, 2011. Seventy years ago, something happened in Pearl Harbor. I shall never forget that day because it was a Sunday, and, as were many Americans, I was preparing to go to church. I was putting on my necktie and having a good time listening to delightful Hawaiian music. Suddenly, at about this time--1:55 p.m. here--the disc jockey in charge of that program began screaming, yelling into the mike. He was saying: ``The Japanese are bombing Pearl Harbor!'' He kept on repeating that. For a moment, I thought it was a repeat or replay of Orson Welles, which my colleagues will recall was the program that was a mighty hit in the United States.
The disc jockey kept on doing this for about 5 minutes--no music, just screaming--so I decided to take my father out on the street and look toward Pearl Harbor. We could see these black puffs, and then we knew what was happening. Suddenly, while watching these black puffs of explosions, we could hear a rumble just overhead, and there were three aircraft. They were pearl gray in color, and they had red dots on the wings. I knew what was happening, and I thought the world had just come to an end. Just about 2,400 American sailors and soldiers and noncombatants died that morning.
I was a young man of 17 at that time, but I was also a volunteer medical aid man. We had a little aid station--a temporary one--set up by the elementary school called Lunalilo. So I rushed there to respond to the call of duty, and I stayed there for about a week taking care of the wounded and the dead, because we also maintained a morgue on the school premises.
I became familiar with the cost of war--not the full cost, but I knew what was happening. The war was much more than just blood and guts. We have an extraordinary Constitution. We have an extraordinary set of laws. But throughout the history of mankind--not just the history of the United States but the history of mankind--war has always provided some justification for leaders to set aside these laws. For example, on just about Christmas Eve of 1941, about 3 weeks after December 7, the U.S. Government made a decision, and that decision was to provide a new designation for all Japanese residing in the United States. Citizens and noncitizens, such as my father, were given the new designation, which was 4-C.
As the Presiding Officer knows, 1-A means you are physically fit, mentally alert, and you can put on a uniform; 4-F means something is wrong with you; and 4-C is the designation for an ``enemy alien.'' Just imagine that--an enemy alien. This was used as one of the justifications to round up over 120,000 Japanese, most of them Americans of Japanese ancestry, and place them into these internment camps.
There were 10 of them throughout the United States in very desolate areas--Arkansas, Arizona, Utah, out in the deserts. Their crime was they were ``enemy aliens.'' None of them had committed any crime. Investigation after investigation disclosed that. No sabotage, no espionage, no assault--nothing. They were rounded up and placed into these camps, which were described by our government as concentration camps. Yes, it was unconstitutional, but our leaders felt the war was a justification to set aside the Constitution and set aside the laws.
Well, many of us--especially the young ones--were very eager to demonstrate to our neighbors and to our government that we were loyal, that we wanted to do our part in this war, and, if necessary, put our lives on the line. We petitioned the government. Finally, after about a year of petitioning, President Roosevelt issued a statement saying: Americanism is not a matter of blood or color. Americanism is a matter of heart and soul. He said: OK, form a volunteer group. And that was done. We trained in Mississippi and we did our best.
The 100th Battalion, the 442nd Regimental Combat Team were assigned to do our battles in Europe. We fought in Italy and France. We started off the war with about 6,000 men. At the end, over 12,000 had gone through the ranks. So you can imagine the casualty rates. We had about 10,000 Purple Hearts for all the wounds they received. We were told that these two units became the most decorated in the history of the United States.
Yes, the bombing of Pearl Harbor 70 years ago began a period of my life when I became an adult and, I hope, a good American. It is something I will never forget. It changed my life forever.
Something of interest at this moment: 20 years ago, when we decided to make it a national event--the 50th anniversary of the bombing of Pearl Harbor--on that morning, the President was there. The Secretary of Defense, the Secretary of War, the Secretaries of the Interior Department, State Department--all of the important people of the United States were in attendance.
In preparation of this, we took a poll, about 6 months before December 7, and the poll was among high school seniors, well-educated young boys and girls. The question was a very simple one: What is the significance of December 7, 1941?
Mr. President, I am sad to report to you that less than half could respond. Most of them thought it was a birthday of some President or some historic date of some nature, but they could not recall what it was.
On this 70th anniversary, I wonder, if that poll were taken again, What would be the outcome?
Well, I hope we will remember December 7. I hope we will remember 9/11. That was just a few years ago. But people are beginning to forget 9/11, as well as forgetting December 7.
If December 7 is going to teach us anything, it should be that we must remain vigilant at all times--not just to avoid war but vigilant among ourselves so we would not use this as a justification to set aside our most honored document, the Constitution. I hope it will never happen again.
Mr. President, I thank you very much for this opportunity.
I yield the floor.
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