3 isle soldiers join Army ROTC Hall of Fame

Three Hawaii soldiers, including the first Native Hawaiian Green Beret killed in the Vietnam War, will be part of the inaugural class of the Army ROTC National Hall of Fame. The ceremony today in Kentucky marks the training program’s 100th anniversary.

Among the first 300 inductees at the Fort Knox ceremony will be retired Col. Ed Gayagas and Brig. Gen. Suzanne P. Vares-Lum, both University of Hawaii ROTC alumni; and Spc. 5 James Gabriel, who was a member of Farrington High School’s junior ROTC program when he graduated in 1956.

Gabriel was killed in South Vietnam in 1962 and was the inspiration for the 1966 hit song “Ballad of the Green Beret.”

About one-third of the inductees are former JROTC members, said Lt. Col. Christopher Belcher, spokesman for the Army Cadet Command at Fort Knox. Both the JROTC and ROTC cadets had to be nominated by their sponsoring schools to be considered. Gabriel was nominated by retired Lt. Col. Dave Carlson, an instructor at Farrington’s JROTC program.

Each honoree will receive a certificate and a special medallion. A kiosk at Fort Knox will feature their photos and biographies.

The Reserve Officers Training Corps was created on June 3, 1916, when President Woodrow Wilson signed the National Defense Act of 1916. The program has commissioned more than 600,000 second lieutenants in the last 100 years, according to an Army fact sheet.

An average of 5,300 second lieutenants are commissioned annually through the program, which is available at more than 1,000 colleges and universities. The Army’s JROTC has more than 1,700 units and more than 300,000 cadets in its high school programs.

GABRIEL’S SISTER, Billie Gabriel, said: “Fifty-four years later I continue to be humbled that my brother is being honored as an inductee in the National ROTC Hall of Fame. ROTC planted a seed in my brother while he attended Farrington High School. He is a kanaka maoli, and first son of Hawaii, who gave his life for something he believed in. His bravery, commitment and ultimate sacrifice exemplify the spirit of ‘Duty, Honor, Country.’

“I accept this honor not just for our family, but for all the other Hawaii families who lost a loved one in the Vietnam conflict.”

Army Staff Sgt. Barry Sadler, a Special Forces medic in the Vietnam War, penned the “Ballad of the Green Beret” lyrics: “Back at home, a young wife waits. Her Green Beret has met his fate.” The lines refer to Gabriel’s wife, and their son, who was born five months after Gabriel’s death.

Billie Gabriel said that Sadler, in his book, “I’m a Lucky One,” cited her brother’s death as the inspiration for the song. She said her nephew James Gabriel III studied at UH and now commutes between here and Chicago, where he works as an executive with United Airlines.

Gabriel has asked Gayagas, who will attend today’s ceremonies, to present a lei on behalf of her family to Maj. Gen. Christopher Hughes, who left Hawaii several months ago to lead the Army Cadet Command. Previously, Hughes served as chief of staff for U.S. Army Pacific at Fort Shafter.

James Gabriel was 24 years old when he and Sgt. Wayne Marchand were executed by Viet Cong sympathizers on April 8, 1962, during a training mission in a remote village 7 miles from Da Nang. A Time magazine report at the time said Gabriel and Marchand were in the third night of a two-week field exercise near the village of An Chau, 360 miles north of Saigon, when they were killed. The group was attacked at daybreak. Gabriel was shot three times in the chest and stomach while calling for reinforcements.

Before he fell, Gabriel radioed a final message to the base at Da Nang: “Ammunition is running short and we are being overrun.” He was captured and later killed.

Seven years ago the Army dedicated a parade field at Fort Campbell in Gabriel’s honor. He was the first Special Forces soldier and the first Hawaiian to be killed in the Vietnam War. The Gabriel demonstration area and the Special Forces demonstration teams were established at Fort Bragg, N.C., in 1963.

GAYAGAS, 77, graduated from UH’s Army ROTC program in 1962, and Vares- Lum, 48, is a 1989 UH graduate.

Gayagas said he always wanted to be soldier, and, with help from his mother, enlisted in the Hawaii Army National Guard at 16 while attending Kapaa High School. After graduating from UH in 1962, he served in Vietnam with 93rd Evacuation Hospital for two years. Gayagas retired from the Army with 34 years of service in the medical service corps.

His daughter, Ret. Army Col. Christine Gayagas, a 1984 West Point graduate, said that her family is proud of his work as a “passionate and dedicated volunteer for the UH ROTC battalion for over 20 years as the president of the alumni association.”

She added, “He is committed to the development of the young ROTC cadets and works hard to fundraise for the UH ROTC Fallen Warrior statue and traditional balls through golf tournaments and other fundraisers.”

VARES-LUM, an Aiea High School graduate, is the mobilization assistant to the director of strategic plans and policy at the U.S. Pacific Command at Camp Smith.

She said she was “surprised and honored” by the ROTC recognition. “It is gratifying to be part of this program,” she said, recalling that woman were first allowed into the ROTC program in 1974, “changing the whole force for the better.”

Vares-Lum served on active duty from 1989 to 1993, when she joined the Hawaii Army National Guard’s 29th Infantry Brigade. Vares-Lum has commanded the 298th Regiment, Multifunctional Training Unit and served as chief of the joint staff of the Hawaii National Guard. Her husband, Lt. Col. Courtney Lum, also an UH Army ROTC graduate, serves as executive officer of the Army Guard’s 103rd Troop Command.

Vares-Lum served in Iraq from August 2004 to March 2006, setting up and running the Joint Intelligence Center in Balad. In December she became the first woman of Native Hawaiian ancestry to become a general in the Hawaii Army National Guard.

She holds a bachelor’s degree in journalism and a master’s degree in education-teaching, both from UH, and has worked as a teacher at Castle and Kalaheo high schools.

The list of the Army ROTC National Hall of Fame’s inductees is available online at www.cadet command.army.mil.