The National Cemetery of the Pacific

February 1, 2018/Cemetery/

The National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific

I’ve mentioned before in this blog that Angie and I are in our first year as empty-nesters as our youngest headed off to college this year. It is an interesting feeling, with no children in the house everyday, but it has been a time for the two of us to do some things that we have not been able to do with kids in the house.

We got to spend a great deal of January in Hawaii. I’ve always enjoyed the Hawaiian Islands and just being able to go there and do nothing for a period of time was really fun. While I was there, I thought to myself about the National Cemetery of the Pacific and thought that there was probably plenty of FDD readers who did not know of it. I’ve visited it a couple of times prior to this trip.

Following America’s involvement in World War II in the South Pacific it was determined that a cemetery was necessary for the war dead in that theatre of war. In February 1948 Congress approved funding for the National Cemetery of the Pacific, located in a non-functioning former volcano near downtown Honolulu. Because of this history, the cemetery is commonly called “Punchbowl”. The cemetery is administered by the National Cemetery Administration of the United States Department of Veterans Affairs.

The first interment was made on January 4, 1949, and eventually, over 13,000 soldiers and sailors from World War II would be laid to rest in Punchbowl. You can learn more about the cemetery from its Wikipedia page here.

Eventually, following the Korean War, a trade of war dead between the United States and Korea/China was commenced and 4,167 US soldiers and Marines were exchanged for 13,528 Korean/Chinese dead. Of these, 416 Korean War “unknowns” were buried in the National Cemetery of the Pacific. To this day, every so often you hear a story of one of these who is identified by the use of DNA testing.

The cemetery now almost exclusively accepts cremated remains for above-ground placement in columbaria.

Some of the notable interments at the cemetery include:

Jack Chevigny (1945)–Notre Dame football player who said, “Let’s win one for the Gipper”. He was killed at Iwo Jima
Stanley A. Dunham (1992)- Grandfather of President Barack Obama.
Daniel Inoye (2012) – World War II Medal of Honor recipient. First congressman from Hawaii, the State, in 1959. U.S. Senator from Hawaii 1963-2012.
Ellison Onizuka (1986) – First astronaut from Hawaii. Killed in the Space Shuttle Challenger disaster.
Ernie Pyle (1945) – World War I veteran. World War II war correspondent.