Today is Memorial Day, the day we have dedicated to honoring the men and women who have served in our armed forces to protect our nation's liberty, freedom and security. The wars that have most shaped our national character have almost all been about some ideal--as Lincoln said at Gettysburg, our nation was
"conceived in liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that `all men are created equal.'" We honor our veterans as a way of affirming those values and ideals that motivated our founding and have unified, shaped and sustained us ever since.
Until Vietnam, the ideals offered as rationales for our major wars were never undermined by the conflicting realities faced by our troops in combat. (For this discussion we'll set aside the knottier problems raised by the dozens of splendid wars and acts of gunboat diplomacy we've waged mostly in Latin America.) But since the 1960's, we've had several undeclared wars, including Vietnam, Lebanon and Somalia, that are remembered primarily by the gulf between the lofty virtues with which we cloaked our involvement and the ignominy under which our soldiers withdrew.
We have never accepted the mantle of colonizer, and except for Pearl Harbor and September 11th, we haven't waged wars in retaliation for attacks on American soil. Americans do not like sending our nation's young men (and now women) into combat if they cannot believe that the war is to defend and extend our freedoms and national ideals. It has also proven difficult to sustain the morale of American troops without giving them a plausible idealistic mission for which they will fight and possibly die. As it becomes clearer that the most charitable explanation for why we've gotten mired in this Mesopotamian miasma was foolish naïvete by the true believers over at the Project for a New American Century, we will hear more frequent reports of falling morale among our professional soldiers deployed in Iraq.
If one looks for examples of exemplary heroism among American troops, however, one notices a paradox: for much of our history Americans with a marginal position in law and society have been some of our most valiant soldiers. It seems that many people have used military service to shown that they deserved the full rights of American citizenship promised to them in the Declaration of Independence, protected in the Constitution and reaffirmed as the foundation of our national greatness in the Gettysburg Address.
Much of the rhetoric this weekend is about the "Greatest Generation" that fought WWII, defeated the Japanese Empire and played a major role in defeating Hitler's Germany and its European fascist allies. (Americans seem to forget that the Soviet army had more than a minor role in grinding down the Nazi war machine.) WWII was, in Studs Terkel's phrase, "The Good War," but for many American soldiers it exposed the galling disparity between, on the one hand, the affirmations of American virtue in contrast to the evils of fascism and the promise of living up to our national ideals, and on the other hand, the bigotry, segregation and discrimination faced back home by most Americans who weren't white and male.
In recent years there have been much-needed additions and corrections to the historical record concerning the sacrifices and contributions of all members of the "Greatest Generation." We know about the exemplary performance of the Tuskeegee Airmen, the everyday competence and reliability of black enlisted men, the crucial role in the Pacific theater of the Navaho code talkers, and that Rosie the Riveter had posters honoring her contributions during the war but no employment once Robert the Riveter reclaimed his job after the war.
It speaks to the power of the ideals of American democracy and citizenship that those most brutally denied those rights of citizenship have, in attempting to prove their right to full citizenship, been some of our most valiant soldiers. In fact, per capita the most decorated military unit in American history was comprised of men not only denied their freedoms back home in the United States, but whose families were pulled from their homes and communities and incarcerated in squalid and isolated detention camps.
These volunteers and the later draftees became the 442nd Regimental Combat Team. The 442nd combined with the 100th Infantry Battalion of the Hawaii National Guard, which had originally been transferred to the mainland and given only wooden guns to train with. The government had hoped creating a predominantly Japanese American unit would help impress the general public with Nisei patriotism and bravery, but some Japanese Americans opposed joining the army in a segregated unit.
The combined 100th and 442nd became the most decorated regiment in American history, with 18,143 individual decorations and 9,486 casualties in a regiment with an authorized strength of 4,000 men. Both units fought in Italy and France, and were responsible for the rescue of the "Lost Battalion" of the 36th Texas Division. Ironically, the 522nd battalion of the 442nd/100th Regiment discovered and liberated the Dachau Concentration Camp, but were ordered to keep quiet about their actions. The next day, another American battalion arrived and "officially" liberated the camp.
Since the start of World War I, only 842 soldiers have been awarded our highest military honor, the Congressional Medal of Honor. Only 326 survived to receive their medal, and of those only 132 are still alive. Many people realize that former Democratic Senator Bob Kerrey is one of the 132 living recipients of the Medal of Honor. Less well known is that among those 132 survivors is the most famous member of the 100th Infantry Battalion of the Hawaii National Guard, and still a Democratic member of the U.S. Senate, Hawaii's Daniel Inouye :
Second Lieutenant Daniel K. Inouye distinguished himself by extraordinary heroism in action on 21 April 1945, in the vicinity of San Terenzo, Italy. While attacking a defended ridge guarding an important road junction, Second Lieutenant Inouye skillfully directed his platoon through a hail of automatic weapon and small arms fire, in a swift enveloping movement that resulted in the capture of an artillery and mortar post and brought his men to within 40 yards of the hostile force. Emplaced in bunkers and rock formations, the enemy halted the advance with crossfire from three machine guns. With complete disregard for his personal safety, Second Lieutenant Inouye crawled up the treacherous slope to within five yards of the nearest machine gun and hurled two grenades, destroying the emplacement. Before the enemy could retaliate, he stood up and neutralized a second machine gun nest. Although wounded by a sniper's bullet, he continued to engage other hostile positions at close range until an exploding grenade shattered his right arm. Despite the intense pain, he refused evacuation and continued to direct his platoon until enemy resistance was broken and his men were again deployed in defensive positions. In the attack, 25 enemy soldiers were killed and eight others captured. By his gallant, aggressive tactics and by his indomitable leadership, Second Lieutenant Inouye enabled his platoon to advance through formidable resistance, and was instrumental in the capture of the ridge. Second Lieutenant Inouye's extraordinary heroism and devotion to duty are in keeping with the highest traditions of military service and reflect great credit on him, his unit, and the United States Army.
It's important to honor the contributions of the "Greatest Generation," but it's just as important to remember that even that generation was complicit in denying full citizenship to Americans whose heritage was Asian, or African, or Latino, or Native American. Women were discriminated in almost all American institutions. And even today gay and lesbian soldiers have to deny or conceal their sexual orientation in order to fight and possibly die for their country. So, when remembering the sacrifices of our soldiers, including those who, like Meteor Blades' uncle, made the ultimate sacrifice for his country, remember those soldiers who were fighting against a foreign enemy but also for the most profound ideals of America. Thank you to all the veterans who defend us against our national threats, and thank you to veterans like Daniel Inuoye who have and continue to challenge us to live up to our national promises and ideals.