Leis provide foundation
for Memorial Day eventsScouts will decorate graves at
Punchbowl for the observances
As they do just before Memorial Day each year, several thousand Boy Scouts and Cub Scouts on Sunday will decorate with miniature flags and leis the headstones of the 34,000 veterans and family members buried in the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific.
It's all part of the annual island tribute the scouts bring to Punchbowl in preparation for Memorial Day.
Public school students this week on Oahu, Kauai and the Big Island have been sewing the 40,000 to 50,000 leis that will be distributed to Punchbowl and other veterans' cemeteries throughout the state.
The Boy Scouts and the Cub Scouts will begin decorating the graves at 1 p.m. Sunday, while Girl Scouts will perform similar chores at Punchbowl's chapel.
Earlier in the day, Sen. Daniel Akaka will give the keynote address at a 10 a.m. Punchbowl ceremony honoring Pacific American veterans and active duty service members.
At 6 p.m., Vietnam Veterans Post 10583 of the Veterans of Foreign Wars will hold its annual candlelight ceremony at Punchbowl. Retired South Vietnamese Brig. Gen. Ly Tong Ba and retired Gen. Fred Weyand, former Army chief of staff, will speak.
The annual "mini" Rolling Thunder motorcade with members of the Vietnam Vets Motorcycle Club on 350 motorcycles will gather at Magic Island and arrive at Punchbowl before the ceremony begins. The Hawaii Army National Guard's Bravo Company, 1st Battalion, 168th Aviation Regiment, will conduct a helicopter flyover.
On Monday, the 53rd annual mayor's Memorial Day ceremony will begin at 8:30 a.m., with Mayor Jeremy Harris delivering the keynote address. Harris, along with Adm. Thomas Fargo, commander of the Pacific Command, and U.S. Rep. Neil Abercrombie, will place a memorial wreath at Punchbowl's dedicatory stone.
A 21-cannon salute will be presented by Headquarters Company of the 3rd Marine Regiment. Four Hawaii Air National Guard F-15 jets will fly the "missing man" formation over the cemetery.
City buses will operate every 15 minutes from the Alapai bus terminal at South King and Alapai streets beginning at 7:15 a.m. The destination sign on the buses will read "Special Punchbowl Cemetery."
At 1 p.m. at the Hawaii Veterans Cemetery in Kaneohe, Gov. Linda Lingle will deliver the annual governor's Memorial Day address. Floral tributes will be presented by Maj. Gen. Robert Lee, head of the Hawaii National Guard; Vicki Olson, wife of Maj. Gen Eric Olson, 25th Infantry Division commander; Suzanne Irie, whose husband is serving in Iraq with the 411th Engineer Combat Battalion; and Jeniffer Sabog, representing the Hawaii Army National Guard. Marine Heavy Helicopter Squadron 362 will provide the flyover.