Hawaii’s Military Memorials

By Vice Commander COL Peter Hirai

We are in constant search of memorials dedicated to Soldiers that made the ultimate sacrifice. One example about a mile out of downtown Honolulu is a small, unassuming plaque situated on the grounds of the Honpa Hongwanji Hawaii Betsuin Temple. As you head up on the Pali Highway toward the Ko’olau Range away from downtown, you will see a large white temple on your right about ¼ of a mile after crossing over the Lunalilo Freeway. You will have to access the temple from Lusitania Street, as they have blocked off the Pali Highway entrance. As you face the front of the temple, look off to the right and you will see an aging plaque set onto a white Boy Scouts from the Hongwanji place a lei for Memorial base. The plaque contains the names of 385 Soldiers. The plaque is dedicated to Buddhists from Hawaii that fought and died in World War II. All the names are Japanese. Interestingly, the plaque breaks down the city each of the Soldiers were from, ranging from 2 Soldiers from the small town of Ninole on the Big Island of Hawaii to the 134 Soldiers from metropolitan Honolulu. As you see from photo number 2 below, the church regularly honors the Soldiers. The photo is of a small, intimate lei-draping ceremony in May of 2020, necessitated during the Coronavirus – 19 pandemic. The plaque was dedicated on Memorial Day, Sunday May 30, 1948. At the time, Memorial Day was always celebrated on May 30, and didn’t move to the last Monday in May until the 1968 Uniform Monday Holiday Act moved it in 1971, according to a History Channel article I accessed at https://www.history.com/topics/holidays/memorial-day-history. As I read over the names inscribed on the plaque not a single one had an English name. They were all of first or second generation of Japanese ancestry, wanting to prove their loyalty, no doubt they all knew someone who had been imprisoned by the very government they pledged their loyalty to. If you attend the annual Obon Dance held at the Hongwanji Temple in the late summer, I urge you to pay your respects to the Soldiers inscribed on the plaque who gave the ultimate sacrifice for their Nation.