The Tour Continues....Punchbowl Memorial
We have continued our photograhic tour of the island. On Feb 16, 2007 we took a trip up to the Punchbowl Memorial, which memorializes WW II, The Korean War and the Vietnam War.
Clive and I have been in Honolulu on and off since 1992 and we have never gone up to Punchbowl. We've driven around it hundreds of times, but we never ventured in. As mentioned before, we printed out a list of touristy things to do in Honolulu and Punchbowl was one of the places and then I received a comment on my myspace from:
John P. "I was thinking about you and Clive the last few days. I just finished reading two books by Joan Didion, both of which featured essays on Hawaii. The books are "Slouching Towards Bethlehem" and "The White Album" if you're interested. One of the best essays included a fascinating trip to a cemetery in the crater of a volcano. Know the place?"
We do and here it is. Thank you John.
I regret to say that I did not write down the name of the mother who the statue portion of the memorial was built for. She lost 5 sons in WW II.
One thing that struck Clive and I while we stood by the statue was the mood. It was respectfully quiet up there. All of the visitors spoke in hushed tones. The only sound was the wind violently whipping through the flags making a bursting sound, like bombs exploding. It was very moving.
2 comments:
A lovely slideshow. I'm glad you went; thanks for the pictures, too. Joan Didion wrote this about the cemetery: "To look down upon Honolulu from the high rain forest that divides windward Oahu from the leeward city is to see, in the center of an extinct volcano named Puowaina, a place so still and private that once seen it is forever in the mind."
John
Maya, I'm so glad to see this blog. I just learned of it today! Yay for picutres and stories!
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