Ehime Maru memorial service today
By Mike Gordon
and David Butts
Advertiser Staff Writers
Four students from the Ehime Maru today will honor the nine shipmates who died when the submarine USS Greeneville surfaced beneath their ship exactly one year ago.
Eugene Tanner • The Honolulu Advertiser
The students from Uwajima Fisheries High School — joined by U.S. and Japanese dignitaries, including Gov. Ben Cayetano — will help unveil a memorial with flowers, speeches and prayers.
Moriyuki Kato, far right, governor of Ehime Prefecture, and other dignitaries inspected the memorial yesterday.
The ceremony is open to the public and starts at 10 a.m. at Kaka'ako Waterfront Park.
The governor of Ehime Prefecture, which paid $65,000 for the memorial, and several of his aides took an early look at the site in an afternoon drizzle yesterday.
"I hope having this memorial will help the families," said Gov. Moriyuki Kato, who arrived yesterday morning with a group of 52 Japanese, including four students who survived the accident and the families of several who did not.
"The victims' families cannot forget," Kato said. "I'm sure being here one year later will bring out their feelings. It won't be easy."
Nine of the 35-member crew drowned when the Ehime Maru sank, nine miles south of Diamond Head.
The accident plunged the Navy into an international crisis and strained relations between the United States and Japan because the Greeneville was at sea with the sole purpose of demonstrating its abilities for 16 civilian guests.
The memorial's curators hope the memorial will bring the nations closer together.
"I hope the memorial will be a catalyst for building more friendships between the people of Hawai'i and Ehime Prefecture," said Earl Okawa, president of the Japan-America Society.
Relatives of the victims are scheduled to speak at the unveiling ceremony. The program will conclude with the students from Uwajima meeting students from St. Louis School, Okawa said.
"There's a bonding right there, through this memorial," Okawa said.
The memorial is made of nine sloping granite blocks and one of the ship's two anchors. Nine links from the anchor chain of the Ehime Maru signify the nine lost lives.
The black blocks bear several engravings, including the names of the victims, an outline of the ship and a map of the accident site.
The society will help maintain the memorial, but community volunteers have already stepped forward, including the Japan Club from St. Louis School, teachers from Iolani School and the United Japanese Society.
