Hawai'i: America's newest Vietnam memorial II

I had hoped to get this up before now, but technical problems way above my pay grade prevented me from doing so. These are a few more pics from the dedication of the memorial at The Punchbowl in Honolulu.

I returned to the site the Friday following the ceremonies thinking that I might have a better chance of getting just the pictures I wanted. To a very large extent that turned out to be true.

This first picture is of the whole memorial from down by the lower flag pole. The lowest point in the now extinct volcano crater. The new Vietnam memorial is on the right side, partially hidden by the trees.

The Honolulu memorial at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific

The flowers and wreaths that had been presented at the ceremonies on the 11th had been moved to the chapel in the center of the memorial. There were many more spread throughout the chapel and its foyer area.

I actually waited for the stone masons and workmen to complete the finishing touches on the memorial to take these shots. I guess you might say that this is the very first picture of the completely finished memorial. After the dedication ceremonies they were cleaning and coating the stone for the last time.One of the stone masons told me he was from Utah and that he had met workers from many states and he was so proud to be part of of this and he felt like "America was building this memorial."

Close up of one of the two battle maps.

It was particularly poignant for me to see two of the areas were I was (Dong Tam and Can Tho) featured on the map.

A view from another angle.

I mentioned the F-22 fly over in the first post from Hawai'i and then failed to add the pics. So, better late than never, here they are!

The approach

Beginning to dropout of the formation

The Missing Man

Join me again on the 13th for a new post from Cape Giradeau, Missouri. As always, it will post at 9:00am!