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Senator Daniel Inouye Dead at Age 88

Senator Daniel Inouye (D), 88, passed away today at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center of respiratory complications.

This writer saw him on October 27 at the Keehi Lagoon Memorial Park during a Democratic Party pre-election rally for veterans and had occasion to have a short dialogue with him. While appearing frail, there was no hint that he had less than two months to live.

On this occasion he gave a talk on a subject most unusual for combat veterans. He spoke of his own experience in World War II, recalling specific instances when he killed or brutalized an enemy combatant. He said that it was the first time he had spoken of it. Unfortunately it was at that point that my video camera gave out, and I don't remember if he said it was the first time he was speaking about it in such detail or the first time in public. I'm fairly certain he said that he hadn't given the details before, but can't swear to it with a guarantee of 100 percent accuracy.

Luckily I had a backup camera with me which I quickly whisked out of its case to record the Senator's recollections. I was the only one there with a video recorder who recorded the Senator's talk. There were a number of people taking photographs, and probably some of their cameras were capable of taking videos, but I saw no one who appeared to be doing so, and I was looking because I was astonished at what the Senator had to say.

Veterans don't usually talk about their personal war experiences until they realize they are nearing the end of their lives, and know that if they don't say anything, what they know will die with them. At that point many veterans will say things that are revelations to those around them. In many cases, it is the first that even their wives and children hear about their war experiences.

For that reason, I think that Senator Inouye was feeling his mortality on that day in late October.


Breaking news: The Washington Post reports the death of Senator Daniel Inouye