Another Date to Remember

Daddy's lei

Memorial Day 2012. The caution yellow din of the Indy 500 race echoes into silence. By gravestones in formation flags heave and bow in sighs from heaven's breezes. Veterans remember what soldiers halfway around the world still do . . . Relatives and Americans pray that their efforts and sacrifices buckle tyranny to victories that restore liberty's gifts.

This year a local friend emailed me a Kodachome film of one such victory, actually the day after the Japanese surrendered to the U.S. Oh how my heart scans each scene. Could I catch a glimpse of my Maui-born vet, my Daddy? Was he smartly marching around the corner? Was Daddy atop that sedan whisking down Ala Moana Boulevard? Was he that guy in khaki uniform, whooping with others on the sidewalk? Or was he swimming at that beach not far from the initial attack that hurtled America into World War II?

Daddy’s military papers state he was radio operator in the South Pacific Theatre, provisioned with a pistol and rifle. How I would like to think that on V-J Day my daddy was back on the islands, islands that on the same month, fourteen years later would become the 50^th State of the Union. Aloha Oi!

Step back in time to Honolulu August 15, 1945 . . . Blessed Memorial Day!

VJ Day, Honolulu Hawaii, August 14, 1945 from Richard Sullivan on Vimeo.