Hawai’i Public Radio’s Adrienne LaFrance was on hand for Sunday’s 22nd annual Memorial Day ceremony at the Natatorium and filed a report that aired Monday and Tuesday.
The story does a fine job of both capturing the spirit of the event and updating listeners on the natatorium issue.
One excerpt from the story seems particularly worth thinking about. It quotes our keynote speaker at Sunday’s ceremony, Lieutenant General Benjamin Mixon, commanding general of the U.S. Army, Pacific.
LaFrance observes that “veterans from World War I, the soldiers the memorial was built to honor, are no longer alive to see it.” But, she continues, General Mixon “says the very purpose of war memorials is to outlive those who lived through the periods they commemorate.”
“In a time when many of our young people are not focused on that history,” the general told LaFrance, it is “easy … for the young people to go to [a] memorial, look at the names that are on the wall of remembrance and they will understand enough about the history of this great country and the sacrifices of all its service members.”
If you missed the HPR story, you can listen to it here.
Lieutenant General Benjamin R. Mixon speaking to a youngster after his keynote address at the 22nd annual Memorial Day ceremony at the Waikiki Natatorium War Memorial.
