Dozens of Hawaii officials will head out on two boats from Aloha Tower on Sunday to lay flowers in remembrance of six men from Hawaii whose deaths 100 years ago today at the hands of a German submarine off France was a precursor to the United States entering World War I.

On April 6, 1917, Congress declared war on Germany.

A proclamation signed by Gov. David Ige in recognition of World War I Centennial Remembrance Day on Sunday notes the names of the six merchant mariners killed: Chester T. Lee, John Davis, Julian R. Macomber, Henry Rice, Eleka Kaohi and Charles Kanai.

In all, nearly 10,000 men and women from the territory of Hawaii served in the “Great War,” which started in 1914 and ended on Nov. 11, 1918. The Friends of the Natatorium, which advocates for the restoration of the Waikiki Natatorium War Memorial, said 101 from Hawaii gave their lives in the war.

“World War I remains America’s forgotten war, even though more Americans gave their lives during that war than during Korea and Vietnam combined, and even though it profoundly shaped the rest of the ‘American Century,’” the U.S. World War I Centennial Commission said on its website.

Events are planned in Hawaii and nationally in recognition of that history.

Air Force Lt. Col. Chuck Anthony, a Hawaii National Guard spokesman and member of the Hawaii centennial task force, said by 1916 more than 5,500 men had enlisted in the Hawaii National Guard with an eye to joining what was seen as inevitable involvement in the war against Germany.

At the time, the U.S. Army had a small standing force, with most of the ground forces in the National Guard, Anthony said. Nearly 6,000 Hawaii National Guard soldiers were mobilized on June 1, 1918, for war duty and further training, but by the time they were preparing to ship out, the war was virtually over.

“There were more Hawaii Guard soldiers mobilized for World War I than for World War II, for Vietnam or for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan,” Anthony said.

Thousands of others would join the fight with Australian, Canadian or British forces.

“This patriotic wave kind of swept over the entire territory at that time,” Anthony said. “People had looked at, What can I do as my part of the war effort? There really was quite a patriotic fervor that kind of took hold in Hawaii at that particular time.”

President Woodrow Wilson initially sought neutrality for the United States, but as the war progressed, Germany’s submarine warfare and sinking of ships carrying Americans and a proposed German alliance with Mexico finally launched America into the conflict.

On April 1, 1917, the steamer SS Aztec was torpedoed and sunk off the northwest coast of France by a German U-boat, killing 28 young merchant seamen, including the six from Hawaii, the state proclamation said.

Charles Nakao, a survivor from the Aztec, wrote to the Honolulu Star-Bulletin later that month to relate what happened. The ship went down in stormy 30-foot seas, and two of the Hawaii men were crushed between the side of the ship and a lifeboat.

“The temperature of the water was 40 degrees, and I didn’t have any shoes or hat on,” Nakao wrote. “I was frozen and could hardly speak for about two hours after we got picked up.”

Sunday’s 9 a.m. ceremony adjacent to Gordon Biersch at Aloha Tower is the first event sponsored by the Hawaii centennial task force and is open to the public, Anthony said.

More information about the centennial and Hawaii’s involvement in the war can be found at 808ne.ws/WWIcentennial.