In honor WAILUKU >> U.S. Air Force Staff Sgt. Damon Kanuha was killed when his C-130 airplane gunship was struck by a missile over the Saudi Arabian border with Kuwait during the Gulf War more than 10 years ago.
The names of Maui soldiers killed
in combat are etched in stoneBy Gary T. Kubota
gkubota@starbulletin.com"He was the last guy talking on the radio," said Kanuha's father, Louis. "He said, 'Oh my God, they've shot the left engine.'"
Kanuha, 28, who along with the other 13 crew members received a Silver Star and Purple Heart posthumously, is among 15 veterans who have been added to a war memorial listing 286 Maui County people killed while fighting wars for the United States.
A dedication ceremony is set for 10 a.m. tomorrow at the New Veterans Memorial at War Memorial Gym in Wailuku.
The names of Maui County
veterans who were killed during World Wars I and II, the Korean War, the Vietnam War and the Gulf War have been engraved in granite, under a $158,000 project funded by the county. The names were formerly listed in white stenciled letters on a black felt board in a glass case.Maui County Veterans Council President Robert S. Watanabe said that in addition to adding veterans to the list, county officials have made changes, including corrections to misspelled names.
Watanabe, a former Marine corporal during the Vietnam War, said he and other members of his group took more than three years to gather and verify names on the memorial.
He said he became a volunteer with the group because he wanted to honor those who fought for their country, including veterans who have been crippled, hurt and blinded in combat and are losing federal benefits because of congressional cutbacks.
Damon Kanuha, raised as child in Waihee, Maui, moved to Honolulu and then the mainland, eventually ending up in San Diego. He enjoyed visiting his grandfather Arthur Kanuha on Maui.
"He still thought of Maui as home. He liked the peace and quiet. He wanted to go home and raise taro," said his father, Louis Kanuha, in a telephone interview from San Diego.
Kanuha said his son was a flight engineer, one of 14 men on the gunship assigned to stop Iraqi rocket launchers that were attacking U.S. Marines during the Battle of Kafji on Jan. 31, 1991.
Kanuha said crew members knew they would be exposed to heavy fire, but took a chance because some Marines were trapped and the gunship had the firepower to stop the invading Iraqis.
A shoulder-fired missile struck the left wing of the C-130.
Kanuha said the body of his son was found in the aircraft in the ocean. Damon Kanuha was buried at a San Diego cemetery.
Kanuha said although 10 years have passed, he and his wife, Yvonne, still grieve the loss of their son.
"Every Christmas we miss him because he was always there visiting us. It's really hard," he said. "Every week, we go down to the cemetery and put flowers and I talk to him."
Kanuha recalled that as a child his son enjoyed building model airplanes and would ask him to drive him to the airport to watch the airplanes take off and land.
"He said, 'Dad, I'm going to fly one of them someday.' That is what he wanted. He did something for his country, and we're proud of him."
Another of the new names on the memorial is Stephen K. Ramos, born in Puunene, who was 19 when he died in the Vietnam War on June 30, 1970.
Ramos, a private first class in the Army Rangers, protected the rear as his patrol boarded a helicopter after rescuing another patrol pinned down by enemy fire, said his father, Stevens Ramos, a retired Army sergeant and Maui resident.
The helicopter took off before Stephen Ramos was able to step firmly aboard, so he hung onto one of the skids.
"One hundred feet in the air, he let go of the ski and he fell. He was instantly killed," Ramos said.
Ramos said he is happy that his son is receiving recognition.
"He had the big idea he was going to fight the way to stop all wars so that he could bring his kids into a world that was free," Ramos said.