Show up to honor American men and women who showed up and died for you. Join us for the 31st annual Memorial Day Weekend observance at the War Memorial Natatorium in Waikiki. We will gather on the lawn in front of the Natatorium at 10 a.m. on Sunday, May 26, the day before Memorial Day. As always, we will honor all our nation’s war dead, an estimated 1.35 million men and women since the Revolutionary War. We have special affection for those from Hawaii, including more than 100 from the then-territory who died in service during World War I. This
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Archives for World War I
Join us! 100th anniversary of the end of World War I; observances at the Natatorium
Six merchant mariners killed in a submarine attack on the S.S. Aztec. The Hawaii Naval Militia deployed on the U.S.S. St. Louis for convoy duty in the Atlantic. More than 5,500 soldiers readied for war in what is still the largest mobilization in Hawaii National Guard history. Red Cross ambulance drivers in France. Sweater-knitting schoolkids and firefighters. Bandage rollers in the Iolani Palace throne room. Liberty Bond buyers. In all, more than 10,000 men and women from Hawaii volunteered for service in World War I. At least 101 of them died. And many, many more served in one way or
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Attend the Natatorium Memorial Day Ceremony, Sunday, May 27
One hundred years ago this month, the cataclysmic battles of World War I still raged on the oceans, in the air, and certainly on No Man’s Land between the Allied and German trenches on the Western Front of Europe. One hundred years ago this November, the Great War, thankfully, ended. More than 9 million combatants and 7 million civilians had died in four years. More than 100 of those dead were volunteers from Hawaii, a territory – not yet even a state – that had produced more than 10,000 volunteers, far more than anyone had expected from such a tiny
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Honor Our Veterans, and Observe the WWI Centennial, with Us This Saturday
One hundred years ago this Saturday, the German high command met, hoping to find a way to defeat the Allies before the U.S. Army could flood the Western Front with fresh American troops. Let’s just say that didn’t work out too well for the German high command. Exactly a year later, on Nov. 11, 1918 – 99 years ago this Saturday – the Germans and Allies signed an Armistice. The guns finally fell silent on the Western Front. After more than four years, the horrors of World War I – in which an estimated 15 million to 18 million people
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Natatorium named official WWI Centennial Memorial
The Waikiki War Memorial Natatorium has been named one of America’s official World War I Centennial Memorials, in advance of next year’s observance of the 100th anniversary of the end of the first global conflict. The Natatorium is the only monument in Hawaii on the list of the first 50 World War I memorials nationwide announced this week by the federal World War One Centennial Commission and the Pritzker Military Museum & Library. Another 50 will be selected next year. “We’re very pleased to be among the first sites selected for by the U.S. World War One Centennial Commission as
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Memorial Day Observance at the Natatorium: Sunday, May 28
Before you go to the holiday picnic or cookout, get to the heart of the holiday. Memorial Day is meant for remembrance of the soldiers, sailors, airmen and women, marines and coast guards who have given their lives in service to our nation during armed conflict. We will honor them all at the 29th annual Memorial Day Weekend observance at the War Memorial Natatorium, 2815 Kalakaua Ave.in Waikiki. It takes place Sunday, May 28, at 10 a.m. You are invited to attend. Those We Remember The number of the men and women we honor on Memorial Day Weekend has now
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Remember the Aztec! Remember Hawaii's Role in World War I
One hundred years ago this week, World War I had been raging for nearly three years. One hundred years ago this week, the United States entered the conflict, declaring war on Germany. “Lafayette, Nous Voilà” Just two summers later, America was sending 10,000 soldiers a day to Europe. A few months after that, it was over. The Allies, with America’s help, had won the gargantuan, horrific, and horribly misnamed War to End All Wars. One of the events that precipitated the U.S. declaration of war on April 6, 1917, was the torpedoing just days earlier of a U.S. cargo vessel,
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Friday: Remember World War I's Biggest Battle 100 Years Ago
This Friday is the 100th anniversary of the start of one of the bloodiest battles in human history: World War I’s Somme Offensive. It began July 1, 1916, with a British and French attack on German lines in the area of the River Somme in far northern France. By the time it ended in mid-November, the two sides had suffered casualties of more than a million men killed or wounded. The United States was not yet a part of the war in 1916. But Australian Andrew Dowling wrote us recently, asking if there was any World War I memorial in
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Wow: What a Year for the Natatorium
A New Year’s Eve “Mahalo” for your outstanding support in 2014. This has been a year of important progress in the fight to save and reopen the Waikiki War Memorial Natatorium. An Amazing Year for the Natatorium In 2014, the National Trust for Historic Preservation declared the Natatorium one of America’s Treasures, and put its resources – and its terrific, experienced, knowledgeable and dedicated staff – behind our effort. In 2014, you turned out in large numbers for an open meeting on the city’s environmental impact study, demonstrating major public support for the preservation option. In 2014, you – more
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The Natatorium Needs You. Submit an Official EIS Comment.
The clock is ticking! If we’re going to save the Waikiki War Memorial Natatorium, we need your help shape the draft of the environmental impact statement. Make sure your voice is heard before the Aug. 22 deadline for public comment. The Background Here’s the situation: Two days after the open public meeting on the Natatorium last week, the City and County of Honolulu published what’s called an “environmental impact statement preparation notice.” [Note: It’s a 141-page PDF.] Now, after a 30-day public comment period, the city’s planners will write a draft environmental impact statement. Another public comment period will follow,
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