WASHINGTON — With reverential words and warm memories, President Obama on Friday led the admirers paying tribute to the late Senator Daniel Inouye of Hawaii, a war hero and senator for 50 years who was hailed for his leadership and modesty. Obama said Inouye was the one who ‘‘hinted to me what might be possible in my own life.’’

‘‘For him, freedom and dignity were not abstractions,’’ Obama said at the National Cathedral Service. ‘‘They were values that he had bled for.’’