National Memorial Cemetery
of the Pacific

Solemn Punchbowl

National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific - Hawaii’s top visitor attraction has a solemn air along with its magnificent lookout, mosaic Battleship Gallery and Courts of the Missing Monument.

An unknown soldier killed in the Pearl Harbor attack in 1941 was the first internment at the National Cemetery of the Pacific located in Punchbowl. One of the more recent to be buried here is Hawaii astronaut Ellison Onizuka who died aboard the Challenger space shuttle in 1986. Famed Pacific War correspondent Ernie Pyle is also buried here along with some 33,000 veterans, some dating to the Spanish-American War. Symbolizing all grieving mothers, Lady Columbia (pictured above) looks out on the massive cemetery that fills the 68-acre Punchbowl Crater.

The Memorial Building houses a chapel and an impressive mosaic gallery detailing Pacific Theatre conflicts of World War II and Korea. It includes a series of stairways bordered by massive marble walls called the Courts of the Missing inscribed with the names of 26,280 MIA soldiers.

More than five million visitors pay their respects at Punchbowl each year, making this the most visited site in Hawaii.

There are no elevated tombstones in view, only simple marble slabs and eight banyan trees, a special tree and symbolic number for the Buddhists buried here. Flowering year ’round are plumeria and rainbow shower trees. Follow a paved path to the left of the Memorial Building and take in the spectacular, sweeping view from the lookout—Diamond Head to the Waianae mountains.

Punchbowl is free; visit between the hours of 8 a.m.-6:30 p.m. daily, (808)566-1430.

LAST LAVA FLOW
Legend says when Oahu’s ruler, Kakei, celebrated a victory in Punchbowl, the volcano erupted. The spirits of Kauai’s fallen were seen dancing over lava. The frightened Kakei returned Kauai’s captive women and the eruption stopped. Volcanic activity has never returned. The Hawaiian name for Punchbowl is Puowaina, “Hill of Sacrifice.”

PUNCHBOWL
True to its name, Punchbowl is an almost perfectly round crater of an extinct volcano. Inside are the bodies of over 33,000 men and women whose lives were sacrificed while fighting for the United States.

NARRATED TOURS
Home of the Brave, (808)396-8112. This patriotic WWII tour takes you to visit Pearl Harbor, Hickam AFB, Wheeler AAF, Schofield Barracks and includes a drive through Punchbowl National Memorial. You may want to return to Punchbowl another day to pay your respects.