[ STUFFS ]
BURL BURLINGAME / BBURLINGAME@STAR-BULLETIN.COM
Veterans built this memorial to the 442nd Regimental
Combat Team and the 100th Battalion to honor
fallen comrades.
Tucked away on Wiliwiuli Street, just off King, is one of many memorials to the 442nd Regimental Combat Team and the 100th Battalion. It's on the end of a modest apartment building. You can't miss it: There's a 442nd patch painted right on the side of the structure. Memorial built by
442nd veterans is housed
in apartment complexThis memorial is different from others, however, in that the veterans did it for themselves to salute comrades lost in the campaign. It's in the lobby entrance to the Veterans Club. The "club" is where the members of the organization and their descendants do business. If the rest of the building looks like an apartment structure, it is.
The building was constructed in 1960 and contains 7,200 square feet, and was considered a good way for the vets to invest. Today, the property and land are worth more than $1 million, so it looks like they were on the right track.
Someday, there may be a proper 442nd museum, one that commemorates all aspects of Japanese-American military service -- how many remember that there were Japanese serving on the Maine when it sank in Cuba? -- but until then we have this structure and partial exhibits in other museums.
Burl Burlingame / bburlingame@star-bulletin.com Curious about something you've seen or heard? Write "Wat Dat?" 7 Waterfront Plaza, Suite 210, Honolulu 96813; or e-mail watdat@starbulletin.com
Click for online
calendars and events.
Send WatDat? questions, stories
or any other story ideas or comments to:
Features, Honolulu Star-Bulletin, P.O. Box 3080,
Honolulu, HI 96802 or send a fax to 523-8509
or E-mail to features@starbulletin.com.
Please include your phone number.
