At Your Service
For and about Hawaii's militaryBy Gregg K. Kakesako
Sunday, February 3, 2002
See also: For Your Benefit
Army Reserve honors
Abercrombie for his support
of the armed forcesThe U.S. Army Reserve in the Pacific last night presented U.S. Rep Neil Abercrombie with a Samoan war club in recognition of his "outstanding support" for the Army Reserve and the Armed Forces in general. The presentation was made by Brig. Gen. Robert G.F. Lee, commander of the Hawaii-based 9th Regional Support Command at the command's dinner banquet at the Hawaii Convention Center. Abercrombie is a senior member of the House Armed Services Committee.
Veterans of the 100th Battalion will celebrate its 60th anniversary in June with a memorial service at Fort DeRussy and a banquet in Waikiki.
University of Hawaii President Evan Dobelle will be the keynote speaker at the banquet planned for June 30 at the Hilton Hawaiian Village Coral Ballroom. A memorial service will be held June 29 at the Brothers in Valor Monument at Fort DeRussy.
The 100th, which later became a part of the 442nd Regimental Combat Team, is known as "the Purple Heart Battalion" for the high number of wartime casualties it received and for the numerous decorations it earned. The two units were made up of Japanese Americans who volunteered to fight in World War II following the Pearl Harbor attack to prove their loyalty to the United States.
Army Capt. Jason Amerine, a 1989 Roosevelt High School graduate and one of the first soldiers to fight in Afghanistan, the widow of another, and a soldier who helped with the Pentagon search and rescue on Sept. 11 attended the president's State of the Union address Jan. 29.
Amerine and two members of his Army Special Forces "A Team" represented Operation Enduring Freedom veterans at the event. Amerine's Operational Detachment Alpha was one of the first U.S. military forces on the ground in Afghanistan and fought alongside Hamid Karzai, now the interim leader of that country.
The 30-year-old West Point graduate from Honolulu and the two other soldiers received the Bronze Star and Purple Hearts. The three were among the members of the 5th Special Forces Group injured Dec. 5 when a U.S. bomb carrying 2,000 pounds of explosives missed its target and landed 100 yards from the team's position north of Kandahar. Sgt. 1st Class Ronnie L. Raikes suffered nerve damage in one arm, and Sgt. 1st Class Michael S. McElhiney lost his right arm during the incident.
The White House extended invitations to the four soldiers and Renae Chapman, wife of the first soldier killed by hostile fire in Afghanistan.
The U.S. Air Force and Navy and the South Korean Navy have joined forces to determine if a B-1 bomber that crashed Dec. 12 can be recovered from the bottom of the Indian Ocean.
The plan calls for an initial survey and imagery of the crash site. The most effective means to accomplish the survey was using sonar to locate sections of the bomber and underwater photography to determine their condition.
A U.S. Navy mine hunter and explosive ordinance disposal craft, called a small water area twin hull or Swath, was flown in for the survey and mapping. It was brought in a C-5A Galaxy from the 60th Air Mobility Wing at Travis AFB, Calif. The Pearl Harbor-based destroyer USS Russell was among the Navy vessels that assisted in rescuing the B-1's crew.
The Department of Defense will not be creating a Cold War Service medal. Former Secretary of Defense William Cohen approved a Cold War certificate. The certificate recognizes all service members and federal employees who faithfully served in the U.S. military during the Cold War. The Cold War is regarded as the period beginning at the end of World War II until the Soviet empire collapsed, from 1945 until 1991.
Gregg K. Kakesako can be reached by phone at 294-4075
or by e-mail at gkakesako@starbulletin.com.
