Taps will resound Monday
By Karen Blakeman
Advertiser Staff Writer
From Punchbowl to Schofield, Kane'ohe to Magic Island, the solemnity and military glory of annual Memorial Day ceremonies will reign throughout the day Monday.
Parking and traffic patterns around the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific at Punchbowl and other O'ahu cemeteries will be altered over the Memorial Day weekend because of planned events. People attending the Mayor's Memorial Day Service — Monday at 8:30 a.m. at Punchbowl — are encouraged to use roundtrip shuttle buses that will operate every 15 minutes from the Alapa'i Express Bus Terminal at the corner of South King and Alapa'i streets starting at 7:15 a.m. Parking is free at the Civic Center lot next to the Honolulu Municipal Building. From Friday through Monday, parking will be restricted on Puowaina Drive from Ho'okui Street to the cemetery gates and on Ho'okui Street. There also will be restrictions on street parking around O'ahu Cemetery, Nu'uanu Memorial Park, Diamond Head Memorial Park and the Old Chinese Cemetery in Manoa. — Advertiser Staff
The mayor's Memorial Day Service at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific begins at 8:30 a.m. in Punchbowl.
Memorial Day parking, traffic
U.S. Sen. Daniel Akaka, Reps. Neil Abercrombie and Ed Case, and Rear Adm. William Van Meter Alford Jr., chief of staff of the U.S. Pacific Command, will join Mayor Mufi Hannemann in a wreath laying at the cemetery's Dedicatory Stone.
The ceremony includes the posting of the 50 state flags as well as the presentation of the national colors. The Royal Hawaiian Band and the Honolulu Boy Choir will perform; Marine Group 24 will fire a 21-gun rifle salute.
The part of the ceremony involving cannons and jets is expected to begin about 9:20 a.m. The 1st Battalion, 12th Marines, will fire a 21-gun artillery salute and four Hawai'i Air National Guard F-15 fighters will fly a "missing man" formation over the cemetery immediately afterward.
At Schofield Barracks, Col. Howard J. Killian, commander of U.S. Army Garrison Hawai'i, and Command Sgt. Maj. Bruce D. Roberts, also of U.S. Army Garrison Hawai'i, will be joined by Don Cook, representing the Military Order of the Purple Heart, for a wreath laying at 11:30 a.m. at the flagpole of the post cemetery. The public is invited to the ceremony honoring fallen comrades.
The governor's annual Memorial Day ceremony at Hawai'i State Veterans Cemetery in Kane'ohe will begin at 1 p.m. Lt. Gov. James "Duke" Aiona will lead a wreath laying ceremony at Memorial Plaza Monument. That ceremony will also include cannons and a flyover, as well as the release of white doves over the cemetery.
Na Lei Aloha's annual lantern floating ceremony will begin at 6:30 p.m. at Magic Island adjoining Ala Moana Beach Park. Entertainment before the ceremony begins at 4 p.m.
The time-honored Buddhist tradition of toro nagashi, or "lantern offerings on the water," is practiced throughout Japan to express respect for ancestors and to comfort the spirits of the deceased. The floating lanterns are said to ferry the spirits to the shores of salvation.
The ceremony gives special attention to people who died in war and the victims of water-related disasters, natural calamities, famine and disease. This year, special honor will be given to members of the military in Hawai'i who gave their lives and to the victims of the Indian Ocean tsunami.
Reach Karen Blakeman at 535-2430 or kblakeman@honoluluadvertiser.com.
