Lei pour in for tributes to veterans on Memorial Day
By Zenaida Serrano Espanol
Advertiser Staff Writer
Bruce Asato • The Honolulu Advertiser
Nearly a dozen volunteers sorted through plumeria flowers heaped on tables at Waikiki Community Center yesterday, stringing scores of fragrant lei.
Johnnie McCoy unfurls an American flag at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific. Dozens of flags — along with scores of donated lei — will adorn the roadways and graves at Punchbowl for Memorial Day.
"We're making these for the veterans," said 64-year-old Ramona Wingate, a visitor from Tacoma, Wash. "If there weren't veterans, we wouldn't be sitting here enjoying our freedom."
The community center was one of 17 city-designated drop-off sites yesterday for the annual collection of Memorial Day lei. City officials set a goal of gathering 50,000 lei to decorate grave markers at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific at Punchbowl, the Hawai'i State Veterans Cemetery in Kane'ohe and other veterans' gravesites.
City spokeswoman Ann Niino could not provide an estimate of how many lei were collected in the one-day effort by yesterday afternoon.
Less than two hours into the collection effort, volunteers who made lei at the Waikiki Community Center and visitors who dropped off lei or loose flowers had contributed more than a hundred lei to the cause, said executive director Joan Naguwa.
"I think it's great," Naguwa said. "It's something that the community can come together and support; a great effort and a great tradition."
Kapahulu resident Justin Watanabe, 20, dropped off three lei made of flowers from his family's plumeria tree. Lei-making for Memorial Day has become a family tradition for Watanabe, whose grandfather is buried at Punchbowl.
"It's about honoring somebody's memory because they fought for our freedom," Watanabe said. "So it's important that even though they're not here anymore, we can honor them with a lei."
Rebecca Breyer • The Honolulu Advertiser
Niino kept the lei collected at the Honolulu Municipal Building in two large trash bags, which were filled with dozens of plumeria, orchid and crown-flower lei.
Carol O'Neill strings lei at the Waikiki Community Center to place on veterans' graves.
"I think it's wonderful," Niino said. "Once a year we do (something) that brings together the whole community; people of all ages, all backgrounds."
At the Hawai'i Kai fire station, one of seven fire stations islandwide that collected lei, area resident Marie Obrochta, 75, donated four orchid and tuberose lei that she bought from a lei stand at Honolulu International Airport.
"I think it's very important," Obrochta said. "We really have to reflect and take time out to say thank you to all the veterans."
Reach Zenaida Serrano Espanol at zespanol@honoluluadvertiser.com or 535-8174.
What's open and closed on Memorial Day, Monday:
Bruce Asato • The Honolulu Advertiser
• Government offices: Closed.
Larry Thornton, a foreman at National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific, looks over lei donated for decorating the grave markers at Punchbowl. The city set a goal of collecting 50,000 lei for veterans' graves.
• Mail: All post offices closed; no regular residential or business delivery or pickup; no pickup from (blue) collection boxes; Express Mail delivered.
• Libraries: Most closed Saturday through Monday.
• TheBus: Operating on the schedule used for Sundays. Call: 848-5555.
• On-street parking: Free, except for metered stalls on Kalakaua Avenue, along Kapi'olani Park; holiday towaway zone parking as permitted by sign; municipal lots must be fed.
• Traffic: No coning.
• Trash: Regular rubbish pickup.
• Landfills/transfer stations: Open.
• Open Markets: Not operating.
• • •
| Memorial ceremonies
Sunday • Friends of the Natatorium's annual Memorial Day Service, 10 to 11 a.m., Waikiki War Memorial Natatorium. Keynote speaker Mayor Jeremy Harris will be joined by guest speakers Maj. Gen. Robert G.F. Lee, the adjutant general of Hawai'i, and Brig. Gen. Irwin Cockett of the Office of Veterans' Services. 235-8504. • Waialua Lions Club's 57th annual Veteran's Memorial Service, 10 a.m., Hale'iwa Beach Park. The service will pay tribute to all veterans, especially those from Schofield Barracks who served in the recent wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, said Lions Club president Peter Botha. 637-5449 or 637-5485. • Vietnam Veterans Candlelight Ceremony, 6 p.m., National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific at Punchbowl, sponsored by Veterans of Foreign Wars. First known ceremony with U.S. and South Vietnamese former POWs. Speakers will be former Lt. Tan Dinh Lan of the Army of the Republic of Vietnam and former U.S. Navy Capt. Gerald Coffee. 532-3720. • 19th annual Sunset Memorial Service sponsored by the Veterans of Foreign Wars, Post 10276, 6 p.m., the State Armed Forces Eternal Flame, mauka of the State Capitol. In recognition of the 50-year anniversary of the Korean War, special homage will be paid to those killed in the war. 845-3852. Monday • 2003 Memorial Day Ceremony sponsored by the National Park Service, 7:45 to 9 a.m., the back lawn of the USS Arizona Memorial Visitor Center. The program, themed "Honoring the United States Marine Corps 1775-2003," will include Pearl Harbor survivors. General public seating begins at 7:15 a.m. There will also be a USS Arizona Memorial interpretive program, from 10:30 a.m. to 3 p.m., which will consist of a 23-minute documentary film and a Navy shuttle boat ride to the Arizona Memorial, as well as an interpretive boat tour around historic Ford Island at 9:45 a.m., 11:15 a.m or 1 p.m. Registration was required by yesterday. • 52nd annual Mayor's Memorial Day Ceremony, 8:30 a.m., the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific in Punchbowl. Mayor Jeremy Harris, who will deliver the keynote address, and Adm. Thomas B. Fargo, commander of U.S. forces in the Pacific, will place a memorial wreath at the cemetery's Dedicatory Stone. 523-4385. • Governor's annual Memorial Day Ceremony coordinated by the state Department of Defense, 1 p.m., the Hawai'i State Veterans Cemetery in Kane'ohe. Gov. Linda Lingle will deliver remarks and lay a wreath at the cemetery's Memorial Plaza Monument with Adm. Thomas B. Fargo, commander of U.S. forces in the Pacific. 733-4258. • Shinnyo-En Hawai'i's fifth annual Lantern Floating, 6 p.m., Magic Island, Ala Moana Beach Park. More than 1,100 lanterns will be placed in the water in memory of those who died. Consolatory prayer requests may be made 3 to 5:30 p.m. Monday at a prayer request booth at Magic Island. 528-0202. |
