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The Honolulu Advertiser
Posted on: Sunday, November 10, 2002

Events set to honor Hawai'i's veterans

 •  What's open and closed Veterans Day

By Curtis Lum
Advertiser Staff Writer

Hawai'i honors its veterans tomorrow with patriotic music, speeches, and missing-man flyovers.

More than 40 marching units are expected to participate in the 56th annual Wahiawa Veterans Day Parade. The event starts at 10 a.m. at Ka'ala Elementary School and proceeds up California Avenue to Fred Wright Park.

The theme of this year's parade, which is sponsored by the Wahiawa Lions Club, is "Freedom's Pride." Maj. Gen. Eric T. Olson, commanding general of the 25th Infantry Division (Light) at Schofield Barracks, will be the featured speaker following the parade.

The state also will observe Veterans Day with a ceremony at the Hawai'i State Veterans Cemetery in Kane'ohe beginning at 1 p.m.

Gov. Ben Cayetano and Maj. Gen. Edward Correa Jr., the state adjutant general, will deliver remarks and lay a wreath at the cemetery's Memorial Plaza Monument.

The program will include the Hawai'i Army National Guard 111th Army Band, a parade of flags and presentation of lei by Hawai'i's veterans organizations, singer Nalani Olds, an invocation and benediction by the Rev. Richard Rubie, a 21-gun salute and a helicopter flyover. The ceremony also will feature the blessing of the 29th Infantry Brigade memorial rock, which is dedicated to the 29 Hawai'i Army National Guardsmen and Army Reservists who died during the 1968 reserve forces call-up.

The U.S. Air Force Band will stage a holiday concert at Hickam Air Force Base from 1 to 2:30 p.m. The concert is open to the public.

At the National Cemetery of the Pacific at Punchbowl, the Disabled American Veterans will have its 52nd annual Veterans Day Ceremony starting at 10 a.m.

The theme of the ceremony is "Veterans Day: A Grateful Nation Remembers." The event will feature the massing of colors; a 21-gun salute by C Battery, 2nd Battalion, 11th Field Artillery, 25th Infantry Division (Light); and a missing-man flyover by the 199th Fighter Squadron, Hawai'i Air National Guard.

Retired Gen. David Bramlett, former commander of U.S. Army Forces Command, will be the keynote speaker. Music will be provided by the U.S. Navy's Pacific Fleet Band.

Special bus transportation will be provided to the Punchbowl ceremony.

Three buses will leave the Alapa'i transit center between 9 and 9:30 a.m. The buses will make stops at Alapa'i at Hotel Street, Beretania Street at Punchbowl Street, Queen Emma Street at Beretania, both bus stops on Queen Emma Street at Vineyard, Lusitana Street at Huali Street, Lusitana at Puowaina Drive and Puowaina at San Antonio Avenue and Prospect Street.

The buses will return to the Alapa'i transit center via the following bus stops: Puowaina at Ho'oku'i Street; Puowaina at Prospect and San Antonio; Lusitana at School Street; Queen Emma Street at Vineyard Boulevard; Vineyard at Punchbowl Street; and Punchbowl at Miller, Beretania and the main library.

Regular bus fares and passes will be accepted.