(BIVN) – The community gathered to pay tribute to the fallen at the East Hawaiʻi Veterans Cemetery on Monday, at a Memorial Day Observance organized by the VFW Post 3830 and Auxiliary.

The Keynote speaker was Lieutenant Colonel (Ret.) Wayne Yoshioka, whose uncle Susumu was one of the survivors of the Royal T. Frank, a U.S. Army transport ship sunk by a Japanese torpedo off the coast of Maui in 1942.

The event also featured remarks by Hawaiʻi County Mayor Harry Kim, retired U.S. Army colonel and VFW Post 3830 commander Debra Lewis, and Civil Air Patrol Cadet Col. Sam Marrack, who recited the “In Flanders Fields” poem, as per annual tradition.