The US Navy will honor the late Sen. Daniel Inouye with an Arleigh Burke-class guided missile destroyer, the USS Daniel Inouye (DDG 118), expected to be completed in 2020.
(Photo US Army)
In a fitting tribute, the US Navy authenticated the keel for the USS Daniel Inouye this past week, along with his widow, Mrs. Irene Hirano Inouye.
“We are honored to have Mrs. Hirano Inouye authenticate the keel of the future USS Daniel Inouye,” said Capt. Casey Moton, DDG 51 class program manager, Program Executive Office (PEO) Ships. “We wish the men and women who sail this exceptionally capable ship the same courageous spirit the late Sen. Inouye embodied.”
According to many eyewitnesses, Lieutenant Inouye, a native Hawaiian, was severely wounded in Italy, April 21, 1945, while fighting in the famed 100th Battalion of the 442nd RCT during World War II. Read his remarkable story – before, during, and after the war – here.
Senator Daniel K. Inouye at the USS Arizona Memorial in 2003
(photo US Navy)