Punchbowl National Cemetery of the Pacific In Punchbowl crater, this is a military and military family cemetery. Specifically constructed as a memorial for veterans of American conflicts in the Pacific, the large crater is lined with Chinese Banyan trees down the middle and is encircled by plumeria trees along the rim and sides of the cemetery. Honolulu Memorial commemorates veterans in each branch of the military, army, navy, air force, marine core, etc, and hometown. Inside the memorial is a chapel in which there is a Christian cross in the center with an altar with candles. On opposite sides of the cross are a Jewish Star of David and a Buddhist Wheel. On the gate people have left leis, Ti leaf leis, pikake leis, lauhala leis and in the middle is a lei made of Japanese cranes, similar to the Japanese tradition of folding a thousand cranes. Most of the graves are from the 1940s and 1950s, largely to the numbers of veteran causalities in the major wars. All veterans served in the US armed forces are laid to rest here, including local veterans, including those of the “nisei” 442nd and 100th battalion. More importantly to note about the multiethnic nature of Punchbowl however, laid at rest here are the veterans themselves and their families, understanding the interracial marriage patterns of Hawaii, there are those of several different ethnic backgrounds buried here. On the far side are the niches from which more cremated remains are stored in a walled memorial. Visiting them in the shade of more plumeria trees also gives a panoramic view of the cemetery as the horizontally placed markers give the appearance of the crater being a large smooth meadow with the ordered placement of flower vases and leis. http://webomatica.com/kaulapi/random/three/am-studies-418/honolulus-cemeteries-hawaiis-multiculturalism-etched-in-stone Office Hours: Monday thru Friday 8:00 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Closed federal holidays except Memorial Day. Visitation Hours: daily. Sept. 30 thru March 1, from 8:00 a.m. until 5:30 p.m. March 2 thru Sept. 29, from 8:00 a.m. until 6:30 p.m. On Memorial Day, the cemetery is open from 7:00 a.m. until 7:00 p.m. Cemetery notes and/or description:In The Honolulu Memorial is located within the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific in an extinct volcano ("The Punchbowl") near the center of Honolulu.\n\nOn either side of the grand stairs leading to the memorial are eight Courts of the Missing on which are inscribed the names of the 18,096 American World War II missing from the Pacific, excluding those from the southwest Pacific (who are memorialized at the Manila American Cemetery and Memorial), and 8,200 American missing from the Korean War. Two half courts have been added at the foot of the staircase that contain the names of 2,504 Americans missing from the Vietnam War. At the top of the stairs is a chapel flanked by galleries containing mosaic maps and descriptions of the achievements of the American armed forces in the Central and South Pacific regions and in Korea. (NOTE: Individuals memorialized here on the tablets do not have "grave markers" in the ground here.) Individuals memorialized here on the tablets at the "Honolulu Memorial" are the Missing in Action, lost, or buried at sea in the Pacific during WWII, the Korean War, and the Vietnam War.