Honolulu Memorial

American Battle Monuments Commission

Keep our cemeteries clean. Take this brochure home with you or 

please recycle/dispose of it properly. Thank you.

American Battle Monuments Commission

2300 Clarendon Boulevard, Suite 500

Arlington, VA 22201 USA

For more information on this site and other ABMC 

commemorative sites, please visit www.abmc.gov

National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific

2177 Puowaina Drive TEL 808-532-3720

Honolulu, HI 96813 gps N 21 18.679 W157 50.670

For more information about the National Memorial Cemetery of 

the Pacific and other locations maintained by the Department of 

Veterans Affairs, please visit www.cem.va.gov

Honolulu Memorial

The memorial was established by the American Battle Monuments 

Commission to honor the sacrifices and achievements of American 

armed forces in the Pacific during World War II and the Korean War. The 

memorial grew in 1980 to include the Missing of the Vietnam War. The 

Department of Veterans Affairs administers the cemetery.

American Battle Monuments Commission

This agency of the United States government operates and maintains 

25 American cemeteries and 26 memorials, monuments and markers 

in 16 countries. The Commission works to fulfill the vision of its 

first chairman, General of the Armies John J. Pershing. Pershing, 

commander of the American Expeditionary Forces during World War I, 

promised that “time will not dim the glory of their deeds.”

U.S. flags flank the chapel altar.

Eight courts of the missing display 

names of those missing in the Central 

and South Pacific during WW II and 

those of the Korean War.

Mosaic maps of U.S. armed forces’ 

actions appear in galleries flanking 

the tower.

Half-courts A and B display names of 

the missing during the Vietnam War.

Court 7 Court 8

Court 5 Court 6

Court 3 Court 4

Court 1 Court 2

Court A Court B

World War II Courts Korean War Courts Vietnam War Courts

*Army & Army Air Forces 5, 7 Army 4, 6, 8 Army B

Marine Corps 2,4 Marine Corps 8 Marine Corps A

Navy 1, 2, 3, 5 Navy 8 Navy B

Coast Guard 4 — — Coast Guard B

— — Air Force 8 Air Force A

Honolulu Memorial

On either side of the grand stairs leading to the memorial are eight courts 

of the missing, showing the names of the 18,096 World War II missing 

from the Pacific, excluding the southwest Pacific, and 8,200 missing from 

the Korean War. Half courts A and B contain the names of 2,504 missing 

from the Vietnam War. The chapel at the top of the stairs contains galleries 

with mosaic maps describing achievements of the American armed forces.

The names of the missing are arranged in alphabetical order by military service as shown in the table below:

* Before September 18, 1947, the Air Forces were part of the U.S. Army.
World War II in the Pacific 

1941–1945

Korean War

1950–1953

Vietnam War

1959–1973

After World War II, Korea was divided into North (under 

Communist control) and South (the Republic of Korea) 

by the 38th Parallel.

June 25, 1950: North Korean units attack across the 38th 

Parallel.

June 27: UN Security Council urges member states to help the 

ROK repel the invasion. The U.S. leads the UN Command that 

forms.

July 1: U.S. combat units arrive. The North Korean offensive 

continues southward.

August 4: The Pusan Perimeter is established. 

September 15: A U.S. amphibious assault at Inchon flanks the 

enemy.

September 16: U.S. Eighth Army surges northward out of the 

Pusan Perimeter.

October 28: Chinese Communist Forces (CCF) enter the 

conflict, reinforcing North Korea. 

1951 and 1952: Offensives and counteroffensives by both sides 

drag out the conflict. 21 UN members participate on the ROK 

side.

July 27, 1953: An armistice is signed between the UN Command 

and the Chinese North Korean Command.

The Geneva Accords of July 

1954 divided Vietnam into 

North and South along the 

17th Parallel. The communist 

regime of North Vietnam 

strove to unify Vietnam 

by force. This included 

supporting 

Viet Cong guerrilla warfare 

in South Vietnam. 

U.S. assistance to South 

Vietnam expands in 1961. 

By 1964, 24,000 American 

service members are in 

South Vietnam as advisers 

and also providing air and 

naval support.

March 8, 1965: The U.S. 

troop buildup begins, soon 

reinforced by units from 

Australia, Korea, New 

Zealand, the Philippines, and 

Thailand.

1966 and 1967: Ground 

combat escalates in South 

Vietnam. U.S. air and naval 

forces bomb North Vietnam.

January 31, 1968: North 

Vietnamese and Viet Cong 

begin the Tet Offensive across 

South Vietnam. 

March 1969: “Vietnamization” begins. U.S. force levels begin 

to decline. 

January 27, 1973: A peace pact is signed in Paris. 

The last U.S. troops depart South Vietnam in March. 

December 7, 1941: The Japanese attack Pearl Harbor and bomb 

the Philippines. Japan continues expanding in the Pacific region 

in early 1942.

May 6: American forces in the Philippines surrender to the 

Japanese.

May 6-8: Battle of the Coral Sea blocks Japanese attempts to sever 

the lifeline to Australia.

June 3-6: Battle of Midway halts Japanese expansion.

August 7: Marines land on Guadalcanal. Army units soon join 

them.

September 28: U.S. and Australian forces begin the 

counteroffensive against the Japanese in Papua and New Guinea. 

January 24, 1943: Allied ground, air, and naval forces begin 

advancing along New Guinea’s northern coast and the nearby 

Solomon Islands.

November 20: Marine landings on Tarawa enhance the 

U.S. Central Pacific thrust. 

January 31, 1944: Combined Army and Marine forces land on 

Kwajalein. Seizure of Eniwetok begins on February 19.

June 15: The 2nd and 4th Marine Divisions land on Saipan, 

reinforced by the Army’s 27th Infantry Division. Seizure of Guam 

begins on July 21 and Tinian on July 23.

October 20: Army landings on Leyte begin recapture of the 

Philippines.

October 23-26: The Battles of Leyte Gulf end Japanese naval power 

in the Pacific. U.S. Navy submarines sank 54.6 percent 

of all Japanese vessel losses in the war.

November 24: B-29 Superfortress bombers of the XXI Bomber 

Command fly from Saipan on the first of many raids against Tokyo.

January 9, 1945: Sixth Army lands on Lingayen Gulf, beginning the 

liberation of Luzon. 

February 19-March 16: Three Marine divisions fight through heavy 

combat to defeat Japanese forces on Iwo Jima. 

April 1-June 22: U.S. Tenth Army seizes Okinawa, increasing the 

threat to the Japanese homeland. 

August 6 and 9: B-29 bombers drop atomic bombs on Hiroshima 

and Nagasaki. 

September 2: Japan’s unconditional surrender concludes aboard 

USS Missouri (BB-63) in Tokyo Bay.

Photo: National Archives

Photo: National Archives

Photo: National Archives Photo: National Archives

Photo: National Archives

Marines aboard an LVT-2 head for beaches of Tinian Island near Saipan. 

July 24, 1944. 

Saipan. A U.S. anti-tank gun crew 

firing on Japanese positions in the 

distance. June 19, 1944. 

Gen. Douglas MacArthur 

countersigns Japanese surrender 

documents aboard USS Missouri 

(BB-63) in Tokyo Bay. Sep. 2, 1945. 

Background Photo: National Archives

A Coast Guardsman stands in reverence beside the resting 

place of a comrade in the Philippines, 1944.

Photo: National Archives

Photo: National Museum 

of the U.S. Air Force

4th Infantry Division soldiers 

descend Hill 742 near Dak To 

during Operation MACARTHUR.

November 14-17, 1967.

An Air Force Forward Air Controller in 

the OV-10 (foreground) directs F 100 

fighters to support U.S. ground forces.

Marines use scaling ladders to storm 

ashore at Inchon in the amphibious 

operation on September 15, 1950. 

A casualty arrives via an H-13 medevac 

helicopter at the 8076th Mobile Army 

Surgical Hospital in Korea.