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In the Military
Gregg K. Kakesako
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Veterans Appreciation Day on Nov. 17
The Oahu Veterans Center will hold its first annual Veterans' Appreciation Day on Oahu from noon to 4 p.m. Nov. 17 at 1298 Kukila St. in Foster Village near Radford High School. The event will recognize and honor veterans, especially those who have recently returned from combat areas.
Tickets are $20 and $5 for children younger than 12. Steaks, hamburgers and hot dogs will be served. Entertainment will be provided by Melveen Leed, Roy Sakuma Ukulele Super Keiki and Kanoe Cazimero. There also will be door prizes, crafters, an orchid plant sale and a silent auction from noon to 3 p.m. For more information, call 422-4000 or e-mail sballard@oahuveteranscenter.com.
Lt. Gen. John F. Goodman, commander of U.S. Marine Corps Forces Pacific, will be the keynote speaker at the Battleship Missouri Memorial's sunset Veterans Day ceremony on Nov. 11. Also speaking at the ceremony on the battleship will be Tobias Langcaon, Missouri crewmember who also is a volunteer tour guide. At the age of 17, Langcaon left his home in the Philippines to join the Navy, where he served as a personal steward's mate for Missouri Capt. Robert Brodie until 1955, when the ship was decommissioned for the first time.
Langcaon, a 24-year Navy veteran, is featured in a recently published children's book, written and illustrated by his son Jeff Langcaon, titled "My Grandpa's Battleship Missouri Tour." Prior to the ceremony that begins at 4:45 p.m., the father-son duo will be available at the Battleship Missouri Memorial from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. to autograph and comment on the book.
Retired Lt. Col. Dick Cole, Lt. Col. Jimmy Doolittle's co-pilot on the daring Doolittle Raid on Japan in 1942, will deliver a lecture and attend book signings with Jonna Doolittle Hoppes, Doolittle's granddaughter and author of "Calculated Risk," during this year's activities centering on the Dec. 7, 1941, attack on Pearl Harbor. All of the activities will be held at the Pacific Aviation Museum on Ford Island.
On Dec. 7, Cole's talk will begin at 7 p.m. Reservations are required and may be made by calling (808) 441-1000. The book signing will be held from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. Dec. 8 and 9. More information is available at the museum's Web site at www. pacificaviationmuseum.org.
"In the Military" was compiled from wire reports and other sources by reporter
Gregg K. Kakesako, who covers military affairs for the Star-Bulletin. He can be reached by phone at 294-4075 or by e-mail at
gkakesako@starbulletin.com.