1. Daniel Ken Inouye was born on Sept. 7, 1924, in Honolulu to Hyotaro and Kame Inouye.
2. While a high school student, he provided first aid to civilian casualties from the Pearl Harbor attack on December 7, 1941.
3. A pre-med freshman at the University of Hawaii in 1943, he enlisted in the Army's Japanese-American 442nd Regimental Combat Team. He fought in France and Italy, where he lost his right arm in battle in 1945. He was awarded a Distinguished Service Cross, a Bronze Star, and a Purple Heart.
4. He married Margaret Awamura in 1949. They were married for 57 years; she died of cancer in 2006. Their only child, Daniel Ken Inouye, Jr., was born in 1964.
5. Inouye returned to the University of Hawaii on the G.I. Bill and graduated in 1950 with a bachelor's in government and economics. In 1952, he earned a law degree from George Washington University.
6. In 1953, he began his law career as deputy public prosecutor for the city of Honolulu. In 1954, he was elected to the Territorial House of Representatives and, in 1958, to the Territorial Senate.
7. After statehood in 1959, he was elected Hawaii's first congressman. He was the first Japanese-American to serve in Congress.
8. Elected to the Senate in 1962, Inouye is now in his eighth term.
9. In May 2008, he married Irene Hirano. She is the president of the nonprofit U.S.-Japan Council.
10. Following the death of West Virginia Sen. Robert Byrd on June 28, Inouye was sworn in as president pro-tempore of the Senate.
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