$14M project at Punchbowl cemetery creating more space

The National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific at Punchbowl is expanding and upgrading its aging facilities as burial space inside the crater dwindles.

America First Contracting was awarded a $14 million contract with the Department of Veterans Affairs for projects that include a new columbarium with 3,400 niches to hold cremated remains, roadwork, a new restroom and a kiosk with a grave locator to help visitors find where their relatives are interred at the historic cemetery.

It’s expected to take a year, but officials say that’s subject to change given the complexity of the effort.

“It’s a huge project,” said cemetery spokesperson Gene Maestas. “We literally don’t have space, so we had to make space digging into the rim of the crater.”

Crews have had to carve out a section of lava rock on the northwestern edge to build the new columbarium.

Project manager Dean Van Doorn said that so far, excavators from Pearl City-based RHS Lee, the primary subcontractor on the project, have taken out 2,000 cubic yards of lava rock.

“It’s incredible, actually, when you see what they had to do here,” he said.

Foreman Joe Ka‘ahu said that digging into rock is “a hassle” that can force frequent plan changes.

“You cannot make them look exactly like the plan,” Ka‘ahu said. “Once you start hitting that rock, it just shatters.”

The Punchbowl crater is an extinct volcano historically known as Puowaina which formed some 75,000 to 100,000 years ago. In ancient times it was used for Native Hawaiian religious ceremonies. During the reign of Kamehameha the Great, a battery of two cannons was mounted at the rim of the crater, and during World War II it hosted U.S. military anti-aircraft guns.

After the war both Congress and veterans organizations put pressure on the military to find a permanent burial ground in Hawaii for the remains of thousands of fallen servicemen that had been left on Guam awaiting burial. The Army eventually began planning for the Punchbowl cemetery, and construction began in 1948.

Among those buried at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific are World War I veteran-­turned-war reporter Ernie Pyle; Hawaii astronaut Ellison Onizuka, who died when the space shuttle Challenger exploded Jan. 28, 1986; and Medal of Honor recipient U.S. Sen. Daniel Inouye, whose heroics in the famed 442nd Regimental Combat Team cost him his right arm.

About 113 acres inside Punchbowl have been developed for the cemetery, and over 53,000 people are interred within.

In addition to the challenge of conducting their work within the confines of the crater, the cemetery remains open to the public, and contractors must accommodate visitors using the roads as they come to pay respect and frequent funerals. Workers often have to briefly halt particularly loud work during the ceremonies.

In the early days of the pandemic, funeral attendance was limited, and services with full military honors were not allowed. For those reasons, many families delayed putting their loved ones to rest, leading to a recent increase in ceremonies.

“Right now we have enough net space for the current rate of interment for about 4-1/2 to five years,” said Maestas. He said the expansion at Punchbowl will buy another five years, but after that, officials may be forced to get creative again with the space inside the crater.

“We’ll have to get geologists in here to actually look and see where there might be some viable space,” he said. “There is a plan to extend Columbarium 14 up here, and that would be going up the memorial walkway.” Maestas added that even that project ultimately would open up space only another five years.

“So maybe 15 more years and then we could be closed for first-time interments,” he said.

The cemetery is the only national veterans cemetery in Hawaii. The state Office of Veterans’ Services oversees several state-run cemeteries, including the Hawaii State Veterans Cemetery in Kaneohe and several on the neighbor islands.