Punchbowl to get new vault

By Zenaida Serrano Espanol
Advertiser Staff Writer

The National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific will be able to accommodate more than 9,000 additional urns by April 2004 under a columbarium project scheduled to begin in June.

The Department of Veterans Affairs and the National Cemetery Administration allocated $2.5 million for the project. The new structure will have 4,620 niches that will be able to house 9,240 urns.

"This should serve our veterans population for the next 10 years," the cemetery director said.

Cemetery officials will hold a blessing Wednesday "to resanctify the ground" before construction of the vault begins, he said. The ceremony will involve blessings by local religious leaders, including Protestant and Buddhist clergy, and a Hawaiian chant.

At least 500 niches in the new columbarium will be available by mid-August, Castagnetti said.

"In the meantime ... we would continue to have committal services with full military honors for those who are eligible," he said. "However, until the new columbarium expansion had been completed ... the families were going to be asked in coordination with the mortuaries to return the remains either to their home or to the mortuary for safekeeping.

"We have a list, and we would accept all those remains for direct placement sometime in mid-August; and the families and the mortuaries have been very receptive to this," Castagnetti said.

Planning for the new structure began about four years ago when Castagnetti approached U.S. Rep. Neil Abercrombie, D-Hawai'i.

Castagnetti said Abercrombie worked hard to have Congress set aside money for the project.

"There was a delay because some negotiations broke down over cost and then that was resolved between the government contracting agency and the selected vendor," Castagnetti said.

The new vault will be a separate structure next to the existing columbarium, with a walkway between them, he said.

Reach Zenaida Serrano Espanol at zespanol@honoluluadvertiser.com or 535-8174.