Boy Scout Troop 181 saluted at the grave of Army Spc. Kevin Wessel, a former troop member and Scout leader who was killed in Iraq in April 2005, on Sunday at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific. The troop joined other Scouts to decorate the graves at Punchbowl graves.
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For Boy Scout Troop 181 of Nuuanu, one of the 34,000 graves of fallen military members at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific has special significance.
The Scouts solemnly stood at the foot of Army Spc. Kevin Wessel’s grave Sunday and saluted one of their own.
Wessel, who had been a member of Troop 181 and later served as a Scout leader, was killed by a car bomb on April 19, 2005, while on foot patrol in Iraq. He was 20.
"We were doing this from when I went in Scouts," said his brother, Greg Wessel, now 21, who was 14 when Kevin was killed.
Troop 181’s members were among the 2,000 to 3,000 Boy Scouts, Cub Scouts and coed Venturers decorating each of the stone markers at Punchbowl with an American flag and a lei in preparation for Memorial Day. The Aloha Council decides which troop and pack takes care of which section.
"Every year, we request council to do this section," said Wessel.
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For the Scouts, the task began at the parking lots of Lincoln Elementary and Stevenson Intermediate schools. Then they hiked up the steep road to Punchbowl under the midday sun.
Cub Scout Josiah Shiraki, 10, of Pack 137 from Pearl City, and his buddies said they made it in 15 minutes, but for most it takes longer.
"There was an awesome view," said fellow pack member Curtis Moreno, 8.
The Scouts fanned out across the green expanse, with Boy Scouts planting the flags in the ground and Cub Scouts placing the lei, all of them donated, this year’s final tally barely enough.
"We just made it for a lei for each marker," said cemetery caretaker Christopher Farley.
"We couldn’t do it without them," he said of the boys. "It takes us three days to take them all down."
Cub Scout Ryder Quon, 8, of Pack 75 from Pearl City, used a walker to get from one grave to the next, draping a plumeria lei atop each. Quon, who has "a really mild case of cerebral palsy," said it was his second time making the Punchbowl rounds.
Friends Caleb Burnett, 13, a Boy Scout, and Cub Scout Kyle Tod, 6, worked together as they placed a flag and a lei, respectively, at the grave of an unknown soldier who died Dec. 7, 1941, at Pearl Harbor, offering a salute. They repeated this many times over.
Cubmaster Robin Akana of Iroquois Point led a group of Cub Scouts accompanied mostly by their mothers, since a lot of the fathers in their area are deployed military members.
Tanya Jackson said she hopes her two sons would learn from the experience "to respect the fact these people put their lives on the line." Her husband, an Army specialist, served in Afghanistan.
Air Force Tech. Sgt. Andrew Dunn, 35, who has been deployed to Afghanistan and Oman more than 10 times, said he accompanied his son, Hunter, 8, hoping to instill in him a "sense of pride" and to acknowledge what service members "do for this country to keep them free."
For Eagle Scout Simon Brown, 16, of Waianae it was a family affair.
"I’m glad to be a part of this," he said. "I’m glad that I can participate in something that matters. Mostly I’m grateful for people that served."
His brother, Assistant Scoutmaster Robert Brown, 18, said, "We need to honor their sacrifice … these men who fell in battle. We need to acknowledge them."
Their mother, Ruth Brown, 54, who has been involved in Boy Scouting since Robert was 8, says she is continually amazed at how fast the graves are decorated.
"It shows what Boy Scouts can do on a large scale," she said.
