Nainoa Kealiihokuhelelani Hoe, who was born 30 years ago under a full moon, died three years ago this month under a similar moon when he was felled by a sniper's bullet in Mosul, Iraq.

The 1995 Kamehameha Schools graduate's middle name means the "ali'i moon that travels the heavens."

Now, in a blending of Hawaiian warrior tradition and U.S. military sacrifice, a tattered American battle flag first carried by Nainoa's father, Allen, in Vietnam, and later by Nainoa in Iraq, has been on a worldwide journey and is back in Iraq with Hawai'i's Stryker brigade.

As a further memorial, Allen Hoe, 60, also asked military members to send him photos of the full moon in tribute to his son and "as a connection between all of us." He has received hundreds of such photos worldwide.

Three years after his death, Nainoa Hoe remains a remembered hero and a bridge between Hawai'i's warrior culture and that of the U.S. military — a common bond that transcends the difficulties Hawaiians and the U.S. government sometimes have.

"People tend to get caught up in the politics of all of this stuff," Allen Hoe said. "But what I think transcends all of that is just the fact of the warrior culture — these young men and women who are willing to stand in harm's way for their country in a tradition that goes back for generations."

On Jan. 22, the third anniversary of Nainoa Hoe's death, soldiers from the 2nd Squadron, 14th Cavalry Regiment of the Hawai'i Stryker brigade, honored the battle flag and the growing tradition on a mission in the vicinity of Taji, about 12 miles northwest of Baghdad.

"It's really about legacy and honoring the memories of soldiers like Nainoa and those who have gone before," said Lt. Col. Thomas Mackey, the 2nd Squadron commander, who also was one of the Hawai'i soldier's commanders on the 2004 deployment to Mosul.

'IT WILL NEVER GO AWAY'

First Lt. Hoe was 27 when he was killed in Iraq.

The popular platoon leader and one-time University of Hawai'i student was U.S. Army Pacific reserve soldier of the year with the 100th Battalion, 442nd Infantry Regiment, and was fourth in a 2002 national ranking of 4,500 ROTC cadets.

In his last year at UH, Hoe was ROTC battalion commander.

The Maunawili man received his commission, earned his "jump wings," went through Ranger School and was assigned to the 3rd Battalion, 21st Infantry Regiment — a Stryker armored-vehicle unit from Fort Lewis, Wash.

Sgt. 1st Class Corey Myers remembers the day when Hoe led his platoon out to see why an Iraqi medical clinic didn't want to accept U.S. medical supplies.

The men stopped short of the rendezvous point in their 20-ton Stryker vehicles, not wanting to intimidate people, and walked the rest of the way.

"It started with one shot, everybody got down, and it just seemed like all hell just broke loose," said Myers, 32, who's now with the 4th Ranger Training Battalion at Fort Benning, Ga.

He held Hoe as his life drained away.

"For me, I relive that day on the 22nd of January," Myers said. "It's just one of those days that will always live with me. It will never go away."

He remembers how proud Hoe was of his Hawaiian heritage, and the Hawaiian warrior name tattooed on his back, shoulder to shoulder.

"He was very much into it," Myers said. "We talked about King Kamehameha."

PURCHASED IN VIETNAM

Allen Hoe said his son traced his Hawaiian bloodline to the Kaua'i chief line.

Myers also remembers the Vietnam-era battle flag that had belonged to Allen Hoe and was carried by Nainoa.

"We all volunteer to do the job that we do, and the flag is kind of a symbol of that," Myers said.

The flag was bought by a 21-year-old Allen Hoe in 1967 from a souvenir shop outside a U.S. military base in Chu Lai, Vietnam.

MANA OF WARRIORS

On Mother's Day 1968, 18 soldiers in Allen Hoe's unit were killed in battle in Kham Duc on the Laotian border.

Among those missing was his platoon leader, Lt. Frederick Ransbottom, and the survivors of Allen Hoe's reconnaissance team pledged that when his remains were recovered, they would present the battle flag to Ransbottom's parents.

"So that flag stayed with me for 38 years," Allen Hoe said.

Within a year after Nainoa Hoe's death, Ransbottom's remains finally were recovered, but the family, hearing of the flag's ongoing journey, told Allen Hoe it should remain with him.

It traveled with Schofield Barracks soldiers to Afghanistan in 2004, was with Nainoa Hoe when he was killed in 2005, and has since been to Iraq twice more, South Korea and Iwo Jima.

Adm. Timothy Keating, the head of U.S. Pacific Command at Camp Smith, was responsible for some of those battle flag honors.

The warrior spirit of soldiers like Allen and Nainoa Hoe continues on in that flag.

"I think for the young soldiers who train at Schofield, we have tried to impress upon them that they are training here," Allen Hoe said. "They are now imbued with the spirit and mana of the ancient warriors who trained on these same grounds, and also all the soldiers who went before."

Reach William Cole at wcole@honoluluadvertiser.com.