Ka Wai Ola - Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Volume 30, Number 1, 1 January 2013 — Hawaiʻiʻs statesman in the Senate [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

Hawaiʻiʻs statesman in the Senate

Daniel Ken Inouye, who served for nearly 50 years in the U.S. Senate and ehampioned indigenous rights for N a t i v e

Hawaiians and the return of Kaho'olawe, died Dec. 17. He was 88. Inouye enlisted in the U.S. Army shortly after Japan attacked Pearl Harbor on Dec. 7, 1941. He served with the 442nd Regimental Combat Team and lost his right arm charging a series of maehine gun nests on a hill in Italy in 1945. His actions during that battle earned him the

Medal of Honor. Following statehoodin 1959, Inouye heeame Hawai'i's first Congressman. He ran for the Senate

in 1962 and served nearly nine consecutive terms. Inouye ensured Hawai'i received its share of federal money and spoke out against injustice against Native Hawaiians, Native Americans, Americans of Japanese Ancestry and Filipino World War II veterans. Inouye was instrumental in securing money for many programs that benefit Native Hawaiians including the Native Hawaiian Education Act, Native Hawaiian Heahh Care Act along with programs supporting Native Hawaiian housing, job training, business development and the perpetuation of traditional cultural practices. He also played a key

role in gaining passage of the Apology bill, whieh acknowledged the role of the United States in the overthrow of the Hawaiian Kingdom. Ue helneH eham-

pion the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act, whieh resulted in thousands of Native Hawaiian remains and funerary objects being returned from museums and federal institutions and reinterred in Hawai'i. Office ofHawaiian Affairs Chief Executive Officer Kamana'opono Crabbe called

Inouye an "ally and ehampion, a man who spent decades shepherding law after law to honor Ameri-

ca's trust obligations and improve the heahh, education and well-being of Hawai'i's first people." "I consider myself enormously blessed to have known Senator Inouye and to have had an opportunity to work with him on Native Hawaiian rights and recognition," said Board of Trustees Chairperson Colette Machado. "He helped launeh the Hōkūle'a and bring Kaho'olawe home to the people of Hawai'i. He worked tirelessly for resources to heal, educate and house Native Hawaiians. He will always be remembered as a great statesman of Hawai'i and the U.S. as a whole." — Garett Kamemoto I

Daniel Inouye 1924-2012

U.S. Sen. ūaniel lnouye