Governor aids woman with seizure during Memorial Day ceremony

Just as the 111th Army Band of the Hawaii Army National Guard began a musical interlude Monday during the Governor’s Memorial Day Ceremony, Gov. Josh Green jumped off the stage to assist a woman who suffered a seizure.

The woman was sitting in the second row at the Hawaii State Veterans Cemetery behind first lady Jaime Green, who gestured to her husband to come off the stage and help.

“The woman was not breathing properly and began to have what appeared to be a hypoxic seizure,” Green told the Honolulu Star-Advertiser through a spokesperson. “We called 911 and I gently opened her airway. She immediately began to breathe on her own and regain consciousness.”

The woman was also assisted by a one-star general and other military personnel. An ambulance responded at around 1:45 p.m., but the woman, who is approximately in her 50s, declined treatment, said Shayne Enright, spokesperson for the city’s Emergency Services Department.

Green is America’s only active governor who is also a medical doctor. Monday represented the first time Green has hosted the Governor’s Memorial Day Ceremony, held annually at the Hawaii State Veterans Cemetery.

The woman’s medical emergency occurred about halfway through the ceremony after Green addressed the crowd at the cemetery’s Memorial Plaza surrounded by the graves of Hawaii’s fallen veterans.

Before the event began, more than 300 Girl Scouts decorated each grave with a flag and lei, said Ronald Han, director of the State Office of Veterans’ Services.

Among veterans, civilians and active members of the military who attended Monday’s ceremony were U.S. Rep. Ed Case; Honolulu Police Chief Arthur “Joe” Logan; Mayor Rick Blangiardi’s chief of staff, Sam Moku; state representatives; and City Council members.

Ted Algire, a former Navy pilot, attended the ceremony for the first time with his wife, Shirley, a former environmental engineer for the Navy. Algire said they recently returned to Hawaii after living in Hong Kong for 17 years and have since gained an appreciation for the freedoms enjoyed in the United States.

“We’re here to do our little part in honoring the men and women who sacrificed their lives for our country,” Algire said. “It’s important for people to remember those who gave their lives for our country. It’s why we have a free country.”

The ceremony began with a prelude by the 111th Army Band, a parade of flags and presentation of lei by various veterans organizations and international partners, followed by the posting of colors by the Joint Service Color Guard and Ceremonial Royal Guard.

Adjutant General Maj. Gen. Kenneth Hara welcomed the audience and emphasized the ceremony’s theme, “A Grateful Nation Never Forgets.”

“This year’s theme acknowledges the legacies of our nation’s heroes,” Hara said. “It is a poignant reminder that freedom is not free.”

In Green’s inaugural Memorial Day address, he highlighted the presence of members of the Korean War Veterans Association as the 73rd anniversary of the start of the Korean War approaches its commemoration in June. Green said more than 400 Hawaii residents died in that war.

“We have heroes in our midst,” he said. “Hawaii wasn’t even a state when they gave their lives to our country.”

Herman Encarnacion, sergeant at arms for Hawaii Chapter No. 1 of the KWVA, said it was a “tremendous feeling” to celebrate the lives of his fallen comrades.

“They are the true heroes,” Encarnacion said. “We are just the backers of these heroes. They gave their supreme life for us and the U.S. as a whole.”

Tommy Tahara, treasurer of Hawaii Chapter No. 1 of the KWVA, said seven Korean War veterans from Hawaii have died since January. Tahara is in charge of distributing the “koden” to veterans’ families, a Japanese monetary gift for grieving loved ones.

“You think of all of the veterans and friends who served with you, lots of whom didn’t come back,” Tahara said.

The ceremony continued with the presentation of a state wreath by Green and Hara and a military wreath by the U.S. Indo-Pacific Command and senior commanders representing each military service. It concluded with a rifle salute and the blowing of taps by a lone bugler.

Monday’s medical response by Green was not his first as governor. Earlier this month he and others kicked out the windshield of a vehicle that went airborne on Hawaii island when the governor was en route to a ceremony in Waikoloa.

Green also tended to a 36-year-old man who sustained head and facial injuries in a two-vehicle crash on the H-1 freeway in 2019 while serving as lieutenant governor.

Green told the Star-­Advertiser on Monday through his spokesperson that the woman at the Kaneohe ceremony “experienced respiratory distress and began to lose consciousness.”

Her family, he said, “was a little shaken up, of course.”

“Medics arrived quickly, and God willing, she will recover completely,” he said. “I urge everyone to learn basic life support and to get certified in CPR (cardiopulmonary resuscitation). Rapid response makes all the difference.”