On the recordDecember 17, 2012
I think we all, at a subsequent time--I just talked to his wife and walked out here--will have some more formal remarks. The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Republican leader. Mr. McCONNELL. Mr. President, I too am going to address the remarkable life of Senator Inouye at a later time, but I did want to make some observations here for a few moments at the time of his passing. Senator Inouye was a man who, as we all know, rarely called attention to himself but who lived a remarkable American life filled with the dignity and grace of the true hero he was. He was only 17 when he heard the sirens over Honolulu and saw the great planes flying overhead. At the time he dreamed of being a surgeon. A few years later a medic would be taking care of him after his heroic action in the Italian mountains, for which he would one day receive our Nation's most prestigious award for military valor. Dan Inouye's dream of being a surgeon was not realized but there were other things in store. Instead, he became a member of one of the most decorated U.S. military units in American history and one of our Nation's longest serving and finest Senators. An iconic political figure of his beloved Hawaii, and the only original member of the congressional delegation still serving in Congress, he was a man who had every reason to call attention to himself but who never did.…
