At Your Service
For and about Hawaii's militaryBy Gregg K. Kakesako
Sunday, January 27, 2002
See also: For Your Benefit
Campbell to take command
of U.S. Army PacificMaj. Gen. James Campbell, who has served several tours in the islands, is scheduled to assume command of U.S. Army Pacific in March.
Campbell was commander of Joint Task Force-Full Accounting during 1996-97, then served as assistant division commander for the 25th Infantry Division. He has also commanded the 10th Mountain Division and headed a Bosnia peacekeeping task force in 1999. Lt. Gen. E.P. Smith, current Pacific Army forces commander, is awaiting a future assignment, possibly at the Pentagon.
Members of the U.S. Army Central Identification Laboratory at Hickam Air Force Base are at Kwajalein hoping to recover the remains of nine Marines belonging to Makin Raiders who are believed to have been executed on the tiny Pacific island 60 years ago.
In 1999, 19 sets of remains were excavated from a mass grave on Makin Island, now known as Butaritari in the Republic of Kiribati, and returned to U.S. soil. They were identified by Army Central Identification Laboratory forensic specialists and returned to their families last year.
On Aug. 17, 1942, Marine Col. Evans Carlson and two companies of his 2nd Marine Raiders battalion landed on Makin. The purpose of the amphibious raid -- launched from two submarines -- was to destroy the Japanese force of 200 as well as its communications and supplies.
During the two-day battle, the raiders killed about 83 Japanese soldiers but ran into trouble because of high surf when they tried to leave the island. Eighteen Marines were killed, and 12 were reported missing in action. Seven of the missing were believed to have been taken captive, and five were believed to have been killed when the rubber boat they were using to return to the submarines capsized in the rough surf. At least nine of the Raiders were taken to Kwajalein, where they were executed in October 1942.
To complicate the current search is the fact that a massive Allied bombing campaign during the war altered the terrain of Kwajalein.
Five Navy galleys in Hawaii have won the coveted Capt. Edward F. Ney Five-Star Award honoring them as the best in the Navy.
The Diosdado Rome and Silver Dolphin Bistro Galleys, both located at Naval Station Pearl Harbor, the Naval Magazine (NAVMAG) Galley at Ewa Beach, the Naval Computer and Telecommunications Area Master Station, Pacific (NCTAMS PAC) Galley at Wahiawa and the Navy Brig Galley on Ford Island all received the five-star accreditation.
Of the 87 ashore galleys in the United States, only 16 of them have been five-star accredited, with 33 percent of those in Hawaii. The Ney Awards were established in 1958 by the Secretary of the Navy and the International Food Service Executives Association and implemented to improve and recognize the quality of food service in the Navy.
As of Jan. 1, the Montgomery GI Bill benefits for active-duty service members, as well as Reserves and National Guard members, have increased. Active-duty personnel can now receive up to $800 a month for 36 months of full-time training, up from the previous limit of $650 a month. Reservists and National Guard members can now receive up to $272 a month for education payments.
Gregg K. Kakesako can be reached by phone at 294-4075
or by e-mail at gkakesako@starbulletin.com.
