Reflecting on Memorial Day
Monday, May 30, 2011 at 4:00AM 
My Uncle Hiroshi Matsukawa died fighting in Italy during World War II. He was part of the decorated Japanese-American 100th Infantry Battalion.
.And while that was a long time ago and he died before I was born, for me, Memorial Day will forever be linked to childhood memories of somber ceremonies at the Veteran’s Cemetery in Hilo that my family attended each year in his honor. The snap of rifles in salute, their explosive discharge, the bugler playing mournful Taps, flowers and leis lovingly placed at every headstone, the Stars and Stripes fluttering in the wind – all are part of my Memorial Day remembrance.
In 1970, Steve’s younger brother Patrick Hu died in Vietnam and is buried at Punchbowl, National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific. And young men and women continue to fight and die for our country today.