HANAPEPE — Capt. Vinnie Johnson, commander of the Pacific Missile Range Facility, had a request on Monday.
“I’d only ask that you use at least a small piece of time to walk amongst the men and women who lie here,” he said before a few hundred people at Kauai Veterans Cemetery. “Memorial Day is about our obligation as citizens — a time to rededicate ourselves to be better Americans in a better America. We enjoy what they have given their lives to defend and own what we could not purchase.”
The annual observance on a cloudy morning was enhanced from the help of community organizations in creating a venue for people to stop and reflect on what Memorial Day symbolizes.
The Boy Scouts were joined by Girl Scouts in preparing for the annual observance presented by the Kauai Veterans Council.
The Waimea High School JROTC perennially supplies the color guard for the Presentation of Colors, the saber unit, and this year, Miss Kauai Veteran Anna Broyles who celebrated her graduation, Friday night with the Menehune.
Johnson said he was reminded of a speech President Ronald Reagan made at Arlington Cemetery in 1985.
“There is a special sadness that accompanies the death of a serviceman, for we are never quite good enough for them; we can’t be, because what they gave us is beyond our powers to repay,” he said. “And so, when a serviceman dies, it’s a tear in the fabric, a break in the whole, and all we can do is remember. When they died, they gave up two lives — the one they were living, and the one they would have lived. They gave up everything for our country, for us. And all we can do is remember.”
Johnson said this weekend, high school graduations were celebrated around the island.
“Their world is full of hope and promise,” he said. “Our world is full of hope and promise because of brave men and women — joy shared is joy multiplied. Today, remember our fallen heroes and their families. We must try to shoulder a piece of their burden. It is our burden as well — sorrow shared is sorrow divided.”
Congresswoman Tulsi Gabbard sent her regards in honor of “Hawaii’s greatest heroes — the men and women, sons and daughters, brothers and sisters — those who sacrificed everything in service to our country.”
“Ceremonies like this are more important now, more than ever as we live in a time where people look forward to Memorial Day, simply for the big sales, shopping, and an extra day off from work,” Gabbard said in remarks delivered by her Kauai field representative Kaulana Finn. “Unfortunately, it is often without a thought for what this day is really about — the sacrifices that great Americans have made throughout our history for the freedoms we hold most dear.”
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Dennis Fujimoto, staff writer and photographer, can be reached at 245-0453 or dfujimoto@thegardenisland.com.
My dad is buried there and served 4 years in WWII as a medic in various places including Italy, Phillipines. He personally patched up the late Senator Spark Matsunaga during a conflict. We salute these fallen veterans and as a veteran myself salute all other veterans who continue making these sacrifices so that freedom is always secured from evil