HANAPEPE — Congressman Kai Kahele and his Kaua‘i team searched through the Kaua‘i Veterans Cemetery for Clyde Caires, Monday ahead of the Memorial Day Observances presented by the Kaua‘i Veterans Council.
Kahele was a speaker at the annual services that returned to in-person following the grip of the pandemic.
“This morning we honor the service and lives of our veterans from Kaua‘i who lie in rest here,” Kahele said. “Soldiers like Private First Class Clyde Caires from Kalaheo who joined the United States Army in 1967, was a paratrooper and fought and died through hostile action in Vietnam. He was just 19 years old. He rests here.
“Or, Bunkichi Matsuyoshi and Larry Tatsumi Sakoda, members of the United States Army’s 100th Infantry Battalion, 442nd Regimental Combat Team who fought in World War II. They are laid to rest here.”
“Or, William Fernandes, a U.S. Merchant Marine who fought in World War II and went on to serve Kaua‘i, and our state in various different ways. He is laid to rest, here.
“This weekend, just as in years gone past, we decorate each memorial, each gravesite with a flag, flowers, or a lei, we lower our flags to half staff and we pay tribute to those who gave their all in service to a grateful nation,” Kahele said. “The observances of their names, the acknowledgement of their contributions during their shortened lives, and the recognition of their sacrifice is the greatest honor we can give them.”
“When we think about them, when we say their names, for a moment, they live again, in our memories, in our imagination, and in our hearts while stirring up our pride, our patriotism, and maybe even a tear,” he said. “As their remarkable valor and sacrifice is etched in our memories, they live on forever.”
The Kaua‘i Veterans Council hosted a steady stream of people — not just on Monday, but the days before, and for several days following — to visit graves of those who rest in the hallowed grounds in Hanapepe that just underwent updating and expansion.
Support for the significant veteran days come from all over, including the Scouts of America, the Girl Scouts of Hawai‘i, the West Kaua‘i Lions Club, the County of Kaua‘i, the State of Hawai‘i, and hundreds more that spent days creating lei for the graves, and stood ready with refreshments following the speeches and presentations.
Kahele closed the day with a quote from Abraham Lincoln.
“It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us — that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion — that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain — that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom — and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.”
