KAILUA-KONA— Fifty years ago, a Hawaiian and a Pennsylvanian were roommates at a military base in Germany. ADVERTISING KAILUA-KONA— Fifty years ago, a Hawaiian and a Pennsylvanian were roommates at a military base in Germany. It’s a solid start for
KAILUA-KONA— Fifty years ago, a Hawaiian and a Pennsylvanian were roommates at a military base in Germany.
It’s a solid start for a joke but, laughs aside, a serious point both men’s lives.
“We’ve got grandchildren and we were children when we met,” said Truman “Iggy” Ignacio, of Keaau, of his longtime friendship with Stan “Sandy” Sanders, of rural Pennsylvania, with whom he recently reconnected on the Big Island.
It was a reunion long in the making.
But after decades of calls, letters and talk, Sanders made a two-week trip out to Hawaii this month and to greet his friend he met from another life and who said he was overcome with what he considered the aloha spirit.
“We did everything together,” Ignacio remembered from that far away time.
The friendship started shortly after the two were assigned as roommates.
A sort of blood-brother ritual also helped, although it stung.
Ignacio, despite no experience as a tattoo artist, tattooed Sanders. Working with a pin, string and India ink, he put Sanders’s initials on the back of his wrist.
Not that it went flawlessly, though Ignacio did put Sanders’s initials on the back of his wrist.
Being repeatedly stabbed with a pin was painful, Sanders remembered when the two sat down with West Hawaii Today, and he still holds a friendly grudge against Ignacio for not also being tattooed himself.
“Just hang on to the bunk,” Ignacio said he told his friend at the time.
When confronted about it last week, Ignacio just smiled.
But it wasn’t until later that they made the connection why the people in German bars they visited were so angry about Sanders’ tattoo.
Ignacio’s penmanship was rather snaky, Sanders said, and resulted in letters that made the initials “SS” look remarkably like the lightning bolt-styled logo of the Nazi stormtroopers.
“I’m going to get killed,” Sanders remembered thinking.
It eventually got covered up, although Ignacio still resisted any tattoos of his own, which is still a slight sore spot between the old friends.
After Germany the men went their separate ways: Sanders eventually working for the Department of Defense and Ignacio living as a fisherman, handyman and working other jobs. They developed families and lost connection for three decades.
Then Ignacio decided to see if he could get in touch with his old friend.
It didn’t take much, just a little digging in online records, and they started calling and sending letters, catching up after the decades of change.
It wasn’t always perfect. It took Ignacio 12 years to reply to one of Sanders’s letter, which he said was because it was lost among old papers. Those letters and phone calls talked about how to meet for decades, but it took Sanders time to save up money to fly to Hawaii.
But being here has been wonderful, Sanders said, especially because he has a local guide to help him out. He’s had the opportunity to meet his friend’s family, who’ve accepted him like he was always there. The Ignacio children have been shocked to find that their father’s old military stories are fully substantiated.
It also gave Sanders a chance to enjoy the island’s food, some of which they went to catch from a boat with one of Igancio’s friends.
“They put about 10 pounds on me,” Sanders said.
Sanders was straightforward explaining why their friendship has endured, beyond the similarities in personalities.
“The close friends you make in the service are like none other,” he said.
