KAILUA-KONA — It’s the day veterans from across West Hawaii become one ohana. ADVERTISING KAILUA-KONA — It’s the day veterans from across West Hawaii become one ohana. Bound to each other by a sense of duty and a desire to
KAILUA-KONA — It’s the day veterans from across West Hawaii become one ohana.
Bound to each other by a sense of duty and a desire to recognize those who’ve served, veterans and their families will gather Wednesday at the West Hawaii Veterans Cemetery to commemorate those who sacrificed for their country.
Despite a big theft from the cemetery earlier this year, the annual gathering at the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month will go on as planned.
The message is too critical not to.
“The important thing is letting people know there are a lot of vets out there, getting them in front of people, letting people know they do exist,” said David Carlson, president of the West Hawaii Veterans Cemetery Association and legion post commander.
To Kalani Hamm, the sense of family is one of the most important aspects of the annual ceremony, hosted this year by Kona’s American Legion Post 20.
“It is when Kona comes together,” said Hamm, president of the American Legion Auxiliary. “It is not only a celebration for those who have passed, but also for the vets who attend and those who are overseas.”
The 45-minute ceremony — usually attended by around 400 people — will feature guest speaker Lt. Col. Jacob Peterson, commander of U.S. Army Garrison Pohakuloa. Peterson, who took over command of the training area last June, formerly served as the Air and Missile Defense Division chief at the Army Central Command in Leavenworth, Kan. He was also assigned to the U.S. Army Pacific Command where he worked on Oahu as the Southeast Asia counter-terrorism officer. As part of the ceremony, lei will be placed on burial sites.
While they won’t dampen the spirit of the celebration, thieves did manage to hamper the organizing of the Veterans Day event when they made off with $10,000 in equipment from the cemetery in March.
Among the stolen items were barbecue grills, tents, tools and a lowboy trailer.
The good news is the trailer has since been recovered. But the loss of the tents has forced the borrowing of other tents, and the lack of grills means the post-ceremony potluck, usually attended by 250 or so, will no longer feature hamburgers. Hot dogs will still be served, Carlson said.
Carlson, a former fighter jet pilot, was never directly involved in combat. But he had the harrowing job of flying the F-100 Super Sabre, the Air Force’s first supersonic jet from 1959 to 1965. It was a tricky and quirky plane, hard to fly, with a 10 percent casualty rate each year during training and, lacking flaps, the plane landed at 240 mph and deployed a drag chute to slow it down.
“It was quite exhilarating,” Carlson said.
The pilot has been attending the Kona celebration for two decades, ever since it was moved to the veterans cemetery.
And even with the recent setback, the cemetery has come a long way playing host on the national holiday.
The addition of four columbariums, a section for in-ground urns, a nearby reforestation project and other improvements over the years have helped make the 70-acre cemetery a respectable place to host the observation.
“When they first started, it was just a dirt cemetery,” Carlson said.
