Marine Gunnery Sgt. Kenyu Shimabukuro was two months shy of completing his second Vietnam combat tour in August 1968, but the Hilo resident already had decided to re-enlist.
Streets will bear the names
of isle Marines killed in VietnamBy Gregg K. Kakesako
gkakesako@starbulletin.comHe had served 13 years and considered the Marines his home.
But on Aug. 22, 1968, Shimabukuro was killed in action in South Vietnam's Quang Ngai Province.
Marine Sgt. Sisifo Faleafine enlisted in 1962, following in the footsteps of his father, also a Marine. The younger Faleafine was 26 when shrapnel cut him down on Jan. 10, 1968.
Marine Sgt. William Kekahuna was only 29 when he was killed by artillery and mortar fire on May 6, 1968.
Tomorrow, the three Hawaii Marines, who were killed in combat in the Vietnam War, will be honored when three streets at a new housing project at the Kaneohe Bay base are named for them.
Nearly 13,000 Hawaii residents served in the war and 221 of them were killed in combat.
U.S. Rep. Neil Abercrombie will be one of several guest speakers honoring their deeds tomorrow at the opening of a $40.9 million, 184-unit family housing project.
Kekahuna was born Dec. 12, 1938, and attended St. Louis High School, but he enlisted in the Marine Corps before obtaining his diploma.
"He loved sky diving and he loved the beach," his widow, Patricia Anderson, said.
Anderson said her husband never said much about the war and had not planned to make the military a career although he had served two consecutive tours in Vietnam.
"My youngest daughter was only a month old when he died," Anderson said. "I got the news two days before my birthday."
Kekahuna volunteered and served as an artillery forward observer with the 2nd Battalion, 13th Marine Regiment, 1st Marine Division, for two consecutive tours.
Faleafine was born in American Samoa and later, when his family moved to Honolulu, attended McKinley High School. Faleafine enlisted in the Marine Corps in 1962 and served as an infantryman in Company B, 1st Battalion, 3rd Marine Regiment, 3rd Marine Division.
"He wanted to make it a career," said his widow, Leetha. "He was just doing his job and taking care of his young family that we were just starting. It was something he wanted to do. He wanted to serve his country even knowing the risk, and he paid the ultimate sacrifice."
Maj. Chris Hughes, Marine Corps spokesman, said the three streets are in the Pa Honua junior enlisted family housing area on the Kaneohe base.
It is just one way the Marine Corps honors Marines killed in battle, Hughes said.
"It's all part of the Marine Corps' commemorative naming program that also includes buildings and firing and training ranges," he said.
Hughes said the process began three years ago as part of a Marine Corps program in the Pentagon that sought to honor Marines with local ties.
Shimabukuro's brother, Kenichi, 76, said the tribute by the Marine Corps is touching.
"We're very honored -- the whole Shimabukuro family," he said.
Family members said that Kenyu Shimabukuro, whose nickname was "Black," entered the military to make up for all the times he was sick when he was a child.
"He wanted to prove to himself that he was strong and able to physically handle being in the military," a relative said. His family believes he chose the Marines because he thought it was the toughest branch of service.
Kenichi Shimabukuro, who is the eldest of four sisters and two brothers, described his brother as being "on the quiet side who kept pretty much to himself."
He graduated from Hilo High School in 1951 and attended a vocational technical school. He was a member of the Hawaii Army National Guard before he enlisted in 1954.
"He wanted to make the military a career," his brother said.
Kenyu Shimabukuro did not say much about the Vietnam War when he returned to Hilo on furloughs.
"He would take my son Sidney fishing, and he loved to tinker with cars," Kenichi Shimabukuro said. "He just said it (the Marine Corps) was good and he got to travel all over the place."
On Aug. 12, 1968, Shimabukuro was riding in an armored personnel carrier as a member of an advisory team in Quang Ngai province when it came under artillery fire. He was 33.
Shimabukuro's medals include a Bronze Star.
Leetha Faleafine said her family is extremely proud.
"We never expected anything like this," she said. "It was a shock that something like this would happen. We feel very, very good about it."
She noted that her husband's family has strong ties to the military, with five of 12 siblings serving in uniform. Faleafine's combat tours earned him two Purple Hearts and one Bronze Star.
More than 20 members of the Faleafine clan plan to attend tomorrow's 9:15 a.m. ceremony.
