Hundreds of veterans expected for September event The 12th annual Old Soldiers Reunion is marching onto Kaua’i soil for the first time this September. David H. Helela of Kapa’a, a retired Army colonel, said the reunion will be held on
Hundreds of veterans expected for September event
The 12th annual Old Soldiers Reunion is marching onto Kaua’i soil for the first time this September.
David H. Helela of Kapa’a, a retired Army colonel, said the reunion will be held on the last three nights of September.
Final details are still being worked out, but Helela said attendees from off-island will be billeted at Kaua’i Coconut Beach Resort. Golf at Wailua Golf Course, a luau and other events are in the planning stages.
Helela also wants it to be known that even though the reunion specifies “old soldiers,” men and women from all the military services are invited. Old sailors, old marines and old airmen will not be drummed out of the three-day get-together.
Most years since its 1989 inception, the reunion has been held on Oahu. Helala said Maui and Big Island have each hosted the affair once.
In 1999, the veterans went all the way to the mainland and reunited in Las Vegas.
Helala said there are many veterans on Kaua’i, and two of them especially, Royce Ebesu and Bill Honjiyo, are “helping me put the whole thing together.”
Helala said that the reunions are well-attended. Anywhere from 300 to 500 ex-soldiers and their families show up “to talk about the old times.”
The chairman of this year’s reunion is Irwin K. Cockett Jr., a retired brigadier general living on Oahu.
Helala, who later served in Korea and Vietnam, spent some of his early days in the service with Cockett.
“He’s a Kaua’i boy who was born in Koloa,” Helala said.
Cockett was here last week and is returning March 15 to help Helala and the local organizers put the final touches on this year’s celebration.
Helala noted that this year’s reunion is also the 50th anniversary of the Korean War. “The forgotten veterans,” he said.
Signup applications for the 12th annual Old Soliders Reunion may be picked up at Kaua’i Veterans Center in Lihu’e. They’re also available by writing to Old Soldiers of Hawai’i, P.O. Box 893331, Mililani, HI 96789-0331.
Staff writer Dennis Wilken can be reached at 245-3681 (ext. 252) and mailto:dwilken@pulitzer.net
