About 100 U.S. military veterans, their families and supporters gathered Friday at East Hawaii Veterans Cemetery No. 1 in Hilo to celebrate Veterans Day in a ceremony presented by the Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 3830 in Pahoa.
A beautiful day greeted the occasion’s ceremonial trappings — military headstones decorated with flags and flowers, a rifle volley salute by American Legion Post 3, a National Guard Youth ChalleNGe color guard, and military marches and “Taps” courtesy of the Hawaii County Band.
Mayor Mitch Roth read and commented on a poem by Charles M. Province in the ceremony’s program that said the freedoms Americans cherish — freedom of religion, speech, the press, etc. — exist because of men and women in uniform who fought for those freedoms, not because of the practitioners or beneficiaries of those freedoms. He used the example of the war between Russia and the Ukraine to make his point.
“We know that many people in Russia wanted to protest. And because of our military we have those freedoms,” Roth said. “If you don’t like the government, the politicians, you don’t like me — you have that voice to say that.
“I am so blessed to live in a country with these freedoms. I owe, and we all owe, those freedoms that we have to these veterans, whether they fought or not. … (Russian President Vladimir) Putin thought that he could take over Ukraine in two days. I just want to say thank you for everything you’ve done for me, my family, the state, this country.
“God bless you for your service to this country, and thank you again for your service.”
Rabbi Rachel Short said the poem, and Roth’s take on it, brought her to tears.
“I’m able to stand here today as a female rabbi and offer these prayers to you because of you and because of your service. Because I am in a place where freedom of religion is protected,” she said. “I look at countries all over the world where women are being beaten and burned, literally, for being who they are, and aren’t able to freely express themselves. And as I stand up here (I’m) thinking about my great-grandfather, who flew a plane in World War II, and then I think about the child I met last week, a 12-year-old girl who had no idea what the Holocaust was.
“And I’m grateful beyond measure for you guys and for your service. That we are able to be the change. That we are able to stand in a room of people of all different faiths and beliefs and ethnicities and colors, in a great, great, great, great country where we are allowed to be who we are.”
Retired Army Col. Deb Lewis, the VFW post’s adjutant and the program’s emcee, said the message being shared is especially important for the Youth ChalleNGe cadets present.
“They were not even born when 9/11 happened. We have to remember so that we can share these stories … and protect these freedoms,” she said.
Keynote speaker Maurice Messina, county Parks and Recreation director and a Navy veteran, emphasized the bond that those who served in the military — no matter what branch — share.
“There’s a brothership, there’s a sistership, there’s a kinship that’s created,” he said. “We rib each other a lot. We like to make fun of each other. But I’ll tell you, if you’re in a situation where maybe it’s a hard meeting, or even just a parking stall argument, when you find out that the other person you’re talking to is a veteran and you’re a veteran, everything gets easy.
“Veterans Day isn’t just about veterans, it’s about the supporters of veterans. I don’t have the best posture, but man, I’ll tell you when somebody notices me as a veteran, I stand up a little bit straighter. Because I’ve got something to represent, and that’s these United States of America.”
Email John Burnett at jburnett@hawaiitribune-herald.com.
