Marine Cpl. Marcus Smith plays "Taps."

Mahalo to everyone who joined us at the Natatorium on Sunday for our 22nd annual Memorial Day observance! It was a beautiful day and a memorable morning: thought-provoking addresses by our speakers, Lieutenant General Benjamin Mixon and Kim Napier; beautiful, meaningful vocal and hula performances; the inspirational participation of our military men and women and the King’s Guard; the presence of so many veterans.

Here are just a few photographs from the ceremony. To see more on Flickr, click here. For a slideshow, click here. Another set of photos is available on Picasa here. A Picasa slideshow here.

Thanks again!

Hula Halau Olana and the 15th Air Wing Honor Guard.

Lieutenant General Benjamin R. Mixon, commander, U.S. Army, Pacific.

The King's Guard

Related posts:

1. HPR reports on Memorial Day service at the Natatorium
2. Join us: Memorial observance at the Natatorium on Sunday
3. Save the Date! Memorial Day Service on Sunday, May 30th

Please join us this Sunday morning, May 30, for the 22nd annual Memorial Service at the Waikiki Natatorium.

We remember Hawai’i’s soldiers, sailors, airmen and marines with music, hula and oratory. And we do so at the place dedicated to their memory by the people of our state.

A music and hula prelude starts at 9:30 a.m. and our moving formal ceremony begins at 10 a.m. This year’s theme is “Ku pa’a i ka ho’ihi, ka ho’omana’o, me ka ho’ala,” or “Committed to Respect, Remembrance and Renewal.”

Our keynote speaker, representing veterans and active duty military personnel, will be Lieutenant General Benjamin R. Mixon, Commander, U.S. Army, Pacific, and a highly decorated veteran of Operation Desert Storm, Afghanistan and Iraq. General Mixon commands all U. S. Army active and reserve forces across the entire Pacific Theater.

Also speaking will be A. Kim Napier, editor of Honolulu Magazine. Participants include an Air Force honor guard and the King’s Guard Drill Team. There will be performances by Hula Halau Olana, Prince Kuhio Civic Club Chorale, Nalani Olds and others.

All are welcome, and covered seating will be available. Look for the tent in Kapiolani Park right outside the Natatorium’s gate. Bring your family, and invite your friends to join you in showing your respect and admiration for our military men and women. You will be glad you came. Mahalo.

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The last surviving U.S. veteran of World War I, now 108, appeared before a congressional committee this week calling for a memorial on the National Mall to veterans of the Great War. Find news coverage of Frank Buckles’ Capitol Hill appearance here, here and here. Well done, soldier!

(VA photo by Robert Turtil)

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The Friends of the Natatorium join today with our fellow citizens — in Hawai’i and across the country — in honoring and expressing everlasting gratitude to all who have served in the United States Armed Forces. Recalling the words of the famous World War I poem “In Flanders Fields,” we shall not — ever — break faith with our veterans.

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Tomorrow, Wednesday, Nov. 11, is Veterans Day. It is a day to honor all those who have worn the uniform of our country. It is a day to thank them.

But it is more than that: Tomorrow is also a time to recommit ourselves as a nation to what the president, in his Veterans Day proclamation, called our “obligation to … fellow citizens who have risked their lives to defend our freedom.”

So on Wednesday, the Friends of the Natatorium urge you to honor our veterans. We urge you to thank them for their service.

We also urge you to think seriously about what we can do as a community, a state and a nation to repay, even in part, our eternal debt to all the men and women who have served, from Bunker Hill to Baghdad and Kabul.

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