Soldier buoyed spirits with laughter

Sgt. Steve Sakoda is remembered by his family at a Big Island burial

HILO » The ashes of Army Sgt. Steve Makoto Sakoda lie peacefully in the ground in a veterans cemetery at the base of Hala'i hill in Hilo. The name of the hill means "peaceful."

The 29-year-old was killed by a roadside bomb April 29 in Iraq. Services attended by as many as 800 people were held Friday night. Sakoda's remains, in a small, polished wooden box, were laid in the earth yesterday.

The services were a time of anguish for Sakoda's wife Michelle and his sister, Stella Sakoda Hottendorf. Michelle sat staring at the ground. Stella sat bent over with her face to her knees.

The pain was made stronger by the fact that Sakoda was a happy person who was loved by many people.

"Please remember Steve as a person who loved his family, his friends and Hawaii, and as someone with a heart full of aloha for everyone he met," a statement from the family said.

"He made everyone laugh," said his friend, Glenn Okuna, after yesterday's service.

A canoe paddler like Sakoda, Okuna remembers Sakoda as the guy who painted a bikini on his body with an indelible marker so it stayed there for days.

While it is common for a canoe club member to tread water, steadying his club's canoe in place while waiting to start a race, Sakoda would provide the service for any club, often while wearing a "rubber ducky" float, said paddler Don Weir.

Sakoda carried musical equipment in his van, playing ukulele and electric music. "We had a roll and roll time," said Okuna.

But after the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attack on the World Trade Center, Marine Corps veteran Sakoda was "gung ho" to join the Army, said friend Gerard Lee Loy. It wasn't that he wanted to get into combat, but simply that he wanted to help people, Lee Loy said.

"He gave his life serving his country and doing what he knew was right," the family statement said.

Army Chaplain Clint Black remembered the passage from the Psalm 23 of the Old Testament, about walking through the valley of the shadow of death.

Soldiers in Iraq are living in that valley of the shadow of death, working in it, doing their duty in it, Black said. Echoing the psalm, he said, "They do so without fear of evil."

Brigadier General John W. Peabody of Fort Shafter noted that among Sakoda's decorations were the Combat Action Badge and the Bronze Star.

On a slight rise of ground from where a hundred people were gathered for the burial services, a seven-man honor guard fired a 21-shot salute to their fallen comrade in arms. A bugler played taps.

Michelle and Stella laid the wooden box with Sakoda's ashes into the earth and placed leis on top of it. Other family members and friends came forward to place flowers on the box.

"He was just a good soul," said Lee Loy.