From its website (at this link),
Few national cemeteries can compete with the dramatic natural setting of the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific. The “Punchbowl” was formed some 75,000 to 100,000 years ago during the Honolulu period of secondary volcanic activity. A crater resulted from the ejection of hot lava through cracks in the old coral reefs which, at the time, extended to the foot of the Koolau Mountain Range.
Although there are various translations of the Punchbowl’s Hawaiian name, “Puowaina,” the most common is “Hill of Sacrifice.”
During the late 1890s, a committee recommended that the Punchbowl become the site for a new cemetery to accommodate the growing population of Honolulu. The idea was rejected for fear of polluting the water supply and the emotional aversion to creating a city of the dead above a city of the living.
Fifty years later, Congress authorized a small appropriation to establish a national cemetery in Honolulu with two provisions: that the location be acceptable to the War Department, and that the site would be donated rather than purchased. In 1943, the governor of Hawaii offered the Punchbowl for this purpose.
Punchbowl offers a serene setting above busy Honolulu.
I walked up the crater wall to a series of memorials.
The trees give shade to the Tin Can Sailors.
This memorial reminded me that we find peace through reconciliation.
Hit My Smoke refers to the Forward Air Controllers from the Vietnam War.
The 24th Infantry served in WWII, Korean War, and the Gulf War.
This plaque is made from the stone from the Philippines to remember General MacArthur's return to defend the island nation.
This brought tears to my eyes,
This is not a bivouac of the dead. It is a colony of Heaven, and some part of us all is buried here.
The top of the crater walls gives an excellent view of Honolulu ...
... and Diamond Head!
I was curious about this stone ...
... what does it look like to you?
Mahalo,
Kim in Hawaii
