On Walkabout At: The Kauai Veteran’s Cemetery

Basic Information

• Name: Kauai Veteran’s Cemetery
• Where: Hanapepe, Hawaii
• Established: 1950
• More Information: FindaGrave.com

Narrative

Just outside of the historic village of Hanapepe on the Hawaiian Island of Kauai I happened to spot the Kauai Veteran’s Cemetery:

Being a veteran I wanted to stop by the cemetery and pay my respects.  As I drove into the cemetery what I found was a beautiful location for Kauai’s veterans to be buried at:

This cemetery was established in 1950 and has the capacity to intern 2,500 veterans:

Here is a nice mosaic at the cemetery honoring those who are buried there:

At the base of the flagpole there is a plaque honoring servicemembers from Kauai who were missing in action and did not have the opportunity to be buried in a place as beautiful as this:

Here are a couple of graves that show that mostly Asian and American immigrants to Hawaii who served in just about every conflict over the past century are buried at the cemetery:

The cemetery sees about 1-2 burials a week and at this current rate the cemetery is expected to reach its maximum capacity within a decade.  This is why it was announced in 2012 that the cemetery would be expanded to make sure that plenty of more space would be available to intern Kauai’s veterans:

When the expansion is complete, the cemetery will able to intern a total of 4,500 veterans that will extend the lifetime of the cemetery by 50 years:

Conclusion

I have been to many cemeteries, but the Kauai Veteran’s Cemetery has to be one of the most beautiful.  The cemetery is near the ocean, the surrounding scenery is very lush, and beautiful volcanic mountains can be seen in the distance.  The cemetery is only getting more beautiful due to the $1.2 million renovation effort that Congress approved back in 2012 as part of the cemetery’s expansion project.  It is good to see that veterans that served their country are getting such a nice burial location on the beautiful island of Kauai.