Despite the obstacles created by the government shutdown, the Kauai Veterans Council, under the leadership of retired USAF Gen. Mary Kay Hertog, slogged ahead with the Veterans Day service on Tuesday at the Kauai Veterans Cemetery in Hanapepe.
“You folks do a darned good job with this,” said retired U.S. Marine Corps veteran John Chapple of Homer, Alaska, who was in attendance with with Peggy Chapple and a crowd of several hundred people. “I get to enjoy this every other year when I’m here.”
Hertog said the government shutdown forced a change in their keynote address speaker who was unable to attend the Hanapepe service. Instead, Hertog was grateful that Bart Thomas, the Kauai Veterans Council adjutant, agreed to fill in, speaking of the Wounded Warrior program that sends guests to Kauai.
There was an individual who bore a strong resemblance to the commander of the Pacific Missile Range Facility who joined dignitaries in offering a lei hookupu in gratitude and appreciation for the thousands of veterans’ souls that make the Kauai Veterans Cemetery their final resting place.
“I’m just the emergency hire because no one else wanted to do this,” the cemetery’s caretaker said. “But I like taking care of the veterans. This is not a job, it’s a pride thing. You need to do this because you have pride.”
For the more than a handful of Girl Scouts of Hawaii, Veterans Day started late Monday when the girls got together at the Kukui Grove Center to work on lei placed on gravestones. They also created the big lei circling the cemetery’s presentation stage where the wreaths from the Kauai Veterans Council and the Mayor’s Office were placed, joined by scores of lei from different veterans organizations and individual citizens.
The Boy Scouts were limited to just three Scouts instead of the corps that traditionally turn out for major veteran observances.
“We didn’t get the notice,” said Mary Lardizabal, scoutmaster of Scouting Troop 168. “I just brought three of our youngest Scouts since the Kauai Veterans Council sponsors our troop after we lost the church sponsorship.”
The invocation and benediction were led by USCG veteran Jim Jung who recently turned 90 years old.
“I was in there with everyone else,” said Edward Kawamura, the commander of the Disabled American Veterans. “But I’m too old. It’s time for the younger generation to step up and do.”
Other contributors to the success of the traditional ceremony included David Pacanas and Frank Cruz, Sarah Tochiki, Jon Sugibayashi and the Sunset Swing Band, and the Waimea High School JROTC, namely the Saber Honor Unit and the Color Guard.
Kauai County Council Chair Mel Rapozo suggested an improvement to the cemetery would be a computerized grave finder to eliminate problems with the winds blowing away pages from the binder located inside the pavilion when the binder is present.
Source: The Garden Island