FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE                               November 9, 2005

Release No. M-95

CITY HONORS MILITARY VETERANS WITH SPECIAL EVENTS SATURDAY

                        Mayor Mufi Hannemann today announced that the City will hold two special events to honor military veterans on Saturday, November 12, 2005:

·       11 a.m. Dedication of the new Veterans Memorial Aquatic Center at Central Oahu Regional Park. Veterans groups, leaders of Oahu’s swimming community and the Royal Hawaiian Band will participate in the dedication of the world-class facility. Contractors are putting the finishing touches on the $13.8 million complex, which includes a 50-meter pool with electronic touch pads and a diving well with 1- and 3-meter boards.

·       5 p.m. Salute to Veterans Sunset on the Beach. The program will start about 6 p.m. Two movies will be shown: the film biography “Daniel K. Inouye: an American Story” and the highly acclaimed independent movie “Only the Brave,” about the Japanese-American 442^nd Regimental Combat Team’s rescue of the “Lost Battalion” of the 141^st Infantry in the Vosges Mountains of France in October 1944. All veterans and their families are especially welcome to share in this free event.

            “We wanted to honor all of those who served this nation in uniform with a permanent reminder of their sacrifices for the freedom we all enjoy,” Mayor Hannemann said of the aquatic center. “We have this multimillion dollar facility in a growing part of the island where thousands of people young and old are going to play and compete for years to come. What better name to give it than Veterans Memorial Aquatic Center.”

            About Saturday’s Sunset on the Beach, the mayor said, “Just two months ago we marked the 60^th anniversary of the end of World War II. Veterans of that war helped forge the state of Hawaii, especially the Japanese Americans who overcame their country’s suspicions and doubts with unsurpassed valor on the battlefields of Europe and the Pacific.”

            In addition to Saturday’s events, Mayor Hannemann will march with veterans who are members of his cabinet and the Royal Hawaiian Band in Friday’s Wahiawa Veterans Day Parade, which begins at 10 a.m.

-30-

Contact:

            Bill Brennan, 527-6928

            Mark Matsunaga, 527-5767