Memorial Day marks the unofficial beginning of summer, with beach outings, backyard barbecues, graduation parties and other family gatherings — and Monday painted a picture-perfect day for those celebrations.
But for some, the day is more remembrance of American service members who died in battle to preserve the fundamental liberties of our citizens, as well as to recognize the families of the fallen, whose daily lives are reminders of their loved ones’ sacrifices.
At Hawaii Veterans Cemetery No. 2 in Hilo, the U.S., Hawaii, and POW/MIA flags flew at half-staff from dawn to dusk. It was there that perhaps 80 assembled above ground to honor the interred who made the ultimate sacrifice.
A few retired military attended in uniform, while others wore attire identifying them with veterans groups, including the Veterans of Foreign Wars, American Legion, Disabled American Veterans and Korean War Veterans Association.
For the second year, the organizer and master of ceremonies was Jeno Enocencio, an Army combat veteran of the Vietnam War who started Fire Mission-Military Honors, which performs military honors at veterans’ burials to ensure “no brother or sister veteran leaves us without honors and respect.”
“I appreciate all the help I’ve been getting because there is no way I could do this by myself. Not only that, the good Lord has helped us a lot,” Enocencio said.
A bell was tolled and gun salute fired for 101 veterans with Big Island connections who died between June 1, 2021, and Memorial Day. Enocencio acknowledged there were others, but their families had chosen “to lay them to rest their own way” without public notice of their service in obituaries. There were floral tributes, “Taps” was sounded by retired Army Brig. Gen. Ray Gandy and marches were played on bagpipes by Dr. Mark Knox, a Hilo Medical Center family practice physician.
The most touching moments, however, were courtesy of a letter read by keynote speaker Ron Kodani, an Army veteran. The letter was written by George Sawada, the Hilo-born, Seattle-reared son of a Japanese immigrant father and Japanese-American mother. The oldest of three children, Sawada lost his mother to tuberculosis when he was 13. Despite helping to raise his younger siblings, Sawada was an outstanding student at the University of Washington and entered its medical school after earning a baccalaureate degree. But his studies were cut short during World War II as he and his family were forcibly relocated, first to Puyallup Assembly Center in Washington, and later to Minidoka Relocation Center, where Sawada volunteered at the camp hospital.
Sawada enlisted in February 1943 and was assigned to the 442nd Regimental Combat Team’s 100th Infantry Battalion, known as the “One-Puka-Puka.” He was the second Sawada to enlist, as his younger brother, Hiro, joined the Army prior to the war. Shortly after departing, George Sawada wrote a letter to his father. In it, he took the liberty of writing “Dear Dad.” It was the first time he addressed his father in the more informal American style.
After recounting numerous examples of how wonderful his father had been to him, Sawada recalled the brave face his dad wore when his beloved wife and mother of his children died, when the family lost its business during the Great Depression and when Japan bombed Pearl Harbor on Dec. 7, 1941.
“One December morn, out of the friendly sky, treachery struck with appalling devastation. You turned pale when you heard the news, ” Kodani read from Sawada’s letter. “For days after, you were silent in your misery. Japan was the country of your birth, but America, the country of your choice. From that day you ceased speaking of Japan. Out of this treachery grew our misery.”
In the letter, Sawada described being sent to a detention camp with his family as “a bitter blow to me,” but credited his father for helping him overcome his bitterness.
“How clearly I remember your words of consolation now, even as I write this letter. Wisely you said: ‘It is for the best. For the good of many a few must suffer. This is your sacrifice, accept it as such, and you will no longer be bitter.’ I listened to your words and the bitterness left me. A despised alien without citizenship, you showed me what it means to be a citizen.”
Sawada wrote that he had seen his father cry twice, when his wife died and when Sawada earned his college diploma. He referred to a saying that “a man must weep thrice ere his span of life is done, or words to that effect.”
“I do not know whether this is true or not, but I have already seen you weep twice and this be true and it is predestined that you must weep again, then Dad, let it be for me — once in glory, for the victory that will surely be mine.”
Kodani concluded, “George Sawada, you may have already guessed, died in combat with the 442nd Regimental Combat Team.”
Sgt. Sawada, who had married before departing for war and becoming an Army medic, was killed by a sniper during the Rome to Arno Campaign in Italy on July 5, 1944. He was awarded the Purple Heart, Victory Medal, American Theatre Service Medal and European-African-Middle Eastern Theatre Service Medal.
Email John Burnett at jburnett@hawaiitribune-herald.com.