We’ve heard a lot of very appreciative comments about the terrific a cappella rendition of the National Anthem on Sunday at the 24th annual Memorial Day Service at the Waikiki War Memorial Natatorium. It was definitely a winner. Lots of you said you’d love to hear hear it again. And fortunately, an audience member captured the moment on video. Mahalo to our soloist, college student Emma Benjamin of Honolulu, for kicking off our patriotic celebration with such an outstanding performance of America’s most patriotic song. Everyone in attendance loved it; you provided a fitting tribute to the men and women
Read More
Archives for Friends of the Natatorium
Photos from the Natatorium Memorial Day service (and mahalo nui!)
Mahalo to everyone who came out for the 24th annual Memorial Day Service at the Natatorium! We want to thank our engaging speakers, Gen. Gary North, VA health care executive Tom Driskill and centenarian Young Fun Choy (represented by his daughter, Jan). Thanks also to Aaron Ho, the Air Force Honor Guard, Chaplain Anthony Wiggins for his moving invocation and benediction, Olana Ai and her keiki hula dancers, and musicians (including Cyril Pahinui) who made the ceremony so special. And we especially want to thank all the veterans who came out to remember their fallen comrades with us. It was
Read More
Spread the word: Sunday, 10 a.m., at the Natatorium
The Memorial Day Service at the Natatorium. We all know what a wonderful, somber, yet joyous ceremony it is. Let’s make it a point today and tomorrow to let others know. Let’s make it a point to invite family and friends to join us there Sunday at 10 a.m. For details, point them toward today’s Star-Advertiser story. Or to our earlier blog post. Let’s bring our ohana together to remember and honor Hawai’i’s war dead and veterans. Sunday at 10 a.m. At the Natatorium. See you there. Mahalo.
Read More
We remember: Memorial service at the Nat | Sunday, May 27
They stood up for us. Let’s come out for them. Come remember and honor our nation’s war dead, and especially those from Hawai’i, at the 24th annual Memorial Day Service at the Waikiki War Memorial Natatorium. Sponsored by the Friends of the Natatorium, the observance will be held Sunday, May 27, at 10 a.m. (Note: That’s Sunday of Memorial Day weekend.) We’ll gather in Kapiolani Park, just outside the gate of the Natatorium. As always, it will be both a solemn and a joyful occasion. We will honor the ultimate sacrifice made by too many of our nation’s military men
Read More
Memorial Day service: Save the date… and help save the Natatorium
You’ve asked what you can do to help. What you can do to contribute to the momentum for reopening the Waikiki War Memorial Natatorium. Here’s what: Be there. Be there on Sunday, May 27, at 10 a.m. Be there for the Natatorium’s solemn 24th annual Memorial Day Observance. Be there because it’s important always to remember the sacrifices of our men and women in uniform, and never more important than over Memorial Day weekend. But be there also because it’s important to show that this Natatorium is a sacred place, the official memorial to more than 10,000 from Hawai’i who
Read More
The fight for the Natatorium: This is why
People ask us all the time why we are so passionate about bringing the Natatorium back to life. Well, they say that a picture is worth a thousand words. This is the picture. This is why: This is what we’ve been missing all these years. This is what the “lost generations” — most folks under age 50, who are too young to have experienced the magic of the Natatorium — have been missing all their lives. Just one look at this image, and you immediately understand what a re-engineered, renewed, reopened Natatorium could be for our families, for kids learning
Read More
World War I and Wahi Pana: The Natatorium in perspective
Scottish novelist William Boyd recently published a New York Times opinion piece headlined “Why World I War Resonates.” He talks about why memories of that horror-filled war remain so vivid in our collective consciousness even now, nearly 100 years after the conflict began. Why it is lived and fought again and again in our films, in our literature, in dramas on stage, in dramas on television. Even in our poetry. “The last old soldier or sailor has died,” he writes, “and almost all of the witnesses have gone, but the war exerts a tenacious hold on the imagination. “ To
Read More
Mahalo, Lin Pang, for your service to the Natatorium!
We cannot let our 25th anniversary year end without paying special tribute to a man known as the Father of the Friends of the Natatorium. Lin Pang stepped down earlier this year after 25 years as an officer and director of the Friends. He was elected vice chair at our very first meeting in August 1986. “We would never have accomplished anything if Lin was not there,” says Joanie Apo, who met Lin at that first meeting and was elected herself as the Friends’ first executive director. Joanie recalls Lin as the “peacemaker of the group,” the one who bridged
Read More
Join veterans, young and older, for a Veterans Day observance at the Natatorium
Please join Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 8616, recent veterans from the U.S. Vets housing and work re-entry programs, the Honolulu Elks Lodge 616 and the Friends of the Natatorium for the VFW’s 15th annual Veterans Day wreath laying and commemoration. The observance will take place at the Waikiki War Memorial Natatorium this Friday, Nov. 11, at 11 a.m. That’s the famous “11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month,” the date and time that the armistice ending World War I went into effect 93 years ago. Nov. 11 has been solemnly observed in the United States ever
Read More
Inflight magazine features Natatorium, calls Friends group "Guardians of History"
Check out this spread on the fight to preserve the Waikiki War Memorial Natatorium. It’s published in the latest issue of Innov8, the inflight magazine of go! Mokulele airlines. Open publication The story is a good summary of the decades-long battle to restore and reopen a Honolulu landmark designated, when it opened in 1927, as a perpetual living memorial to more than 10,000 from Hawai’i who served in World War I. In an important way, the photo tells the story too. Seen on this page, it’s a reminder of the Natatorium’s gorgeous design and of how beautifully the 100-meter ocean
Read More
