Several dozen people — almost all U.S. military veterans and their families — gathered Saturday at East Hawaii Veterans Cemetery No. 1 in Hilo to celebrate Veterans Day.
The ceremony was hosted by the Veterans of Foreign Wars Post No. 3830 in Pahoa and its Auxiliary. The air was filled with military marches, courtesy of the Hawaii County Band, speeches — and cheers from perhaps the most American of sporting contests, a nearby youth baseball game.
Maurice Messina, the county’s Parks and Recreation director and a Navy veteran, noted the ballpark sounds prior to reading a proclamation from Mayor Mitch Roth.
The proclamation noted the holiday’s origins in 1919 as Armistice Day “to honor all those who served in the United States Armed Forces, in war and in peace, and intended to thank all veterans for their service and sacrifices.”
“It is observed today on its original day, as it is every year, to commemorate the armistice that ended World War I,” Messina read. “We are deeply grateful for the sacrifices made by our veterans and their families for the freedoms they have safeguarded for all of us. We acknowledge the valor, devotion and selflessness of our veterans, who have literally placed their lives on the line to protect our country and our way of life.”
The keynote speaker was former Mayor Harry Kim, a former Army medic during the Vietnam War. Kim, a fixture at Veterans Day and Memorial Day ceremonies, noted that those on those occasions are almost exclusively “people that served or the families” of veterans.
“To all who have served: “No one outside of family appreciates what the veterans went through as do the vets, themselves,” Kim said. “They know the pain. They know the sacrifice.”
In a bittersweet moment, Kim noted that, in past ceremonies, he enjoyed talking to veterans of the 442nd Regimental Combat Team, a segregated, highly-decorated unit of Japanese-American soldiers, mostly from Hawaii, who distinguished themselves in European Theater combat during World War II.
Kim asked if there were 442nd members in attendance, and it appeared none were present.
“I was born before World War II. Yes, I’m that old and yes, I’m still alive,” the 84-year-old Kim quipped, drawing laughter. He described the 442nd — whose motto was “Go for Broke” — as “a very special group” who “fought for us, for the world and for democracy.”
“I deeply miss the people of the 442nd, who were eight, nine, 10 years older than me,” he continued. “We lost 689 soldiers in World War II, all of them very young. Remember, at that time the Territory of Hawaii had less than 500,000 people. And 689 of them passed away.”
The former mayor added that the Island of Hawaii alone lost 51 soldiers in the Korean War and another 50 during the Vietnam War.
Kim noted the presence of Delbert Nishimoto, a retired Army lieutenant colonel and Vietnam War veteran, who later became the East Hawaii field representative for the late U.S. Sen. Daniel K. Inouye. Kim recalled Nishimoto’s leadership role in the building of the Yukio Okutsu State Veterans Home in Hilo.
“He was the one who came to my office because I was mayor at the time asking for participation and help in pushing for the veterans’ home,” Kim said. “Believe it or not, we were the only state, besides two others, that did not have a veterans home. And who pushed for it at the time? A veteran.
“And who pushed for it here in Hilo because we on the beginning of the movement for it? Delbert and his friends.”
“It made no sense to me, the more I thought about it, that something’s wrong with this story,” he continued. “That the veterans are the people who sacrificed everything they had for you and I, pushing for programs for them.
“How can it be that almost every single thing that’s for the veterans was initiated by the veterans?”
Kim said most American adults have failed to teach the youth how special it is to live in the United States and to live in Hawaii, to be truly grateful to those who served in the military, and to show that gratitude in deed, as well as word.
“We have an obligation, we have a responsibility that any people we send to war, to provide them the best training possible, provide them the best equipment possible,” he said.
“And for those lucky enough to come back, to provide them the best resources possible to carry on.”
Email John Burnett at jburnett@hawaiitribune-herald.com.