More than 100 gather in Hilo for Memorial Day veterans ceremony

More than 100 people gathered among the decorated headstones at East Hawaii Veterans Cemetery No. 2 in Hilo, where the Memorial Day observance centered on local names, military service and the families who still carry both.

The ceremony was organized by volunteers led by Jeno Enocencio-Peck, an Army Vietnam War veteran who also provides honor guard services at military funerals. In his invocation, Enocencio asked the crowd to “always remember those who have fallen...,” a line that fit the setting of rows of veterans’ and spouses’ graves standing in quiet witness behind the speakers.

JoNelle Fukushima, a County Council candidate, was among those who spoke, along with Gerald Cristobal, whose elder son Isaiah was a Navy SEAL. Their remarks gave the gathering a personal frame that went beyond the formal calendar observance and pointed back to the Big Island families whose lives were shaped by military service and loss.

The program followed the familiar Hilo Memorial Day pattern that has taken root at the cemetery over the years. Scouts saluted and placed flags on graves. An honor guard fired a rifle salute. The Hawaii County Band provided patriotic music, and the bandmaster played Taps. The ceremony also included military marches, patriotic songs, Christian prayers and Buddhist chants, reflecting the island’s broad mix of faiths and traditions in remembrance.

The cemetery setting itself carried much of the message. State veterans officials describe Hawaii’s veterans cemeteries as serene, beautiful final resting places meant to honor the fallen, and that idea was visible in the way the headstones, flags and assembled families framed the observance. Military funeral honors remain a free entitlement for all honorably discharged veterans, which helps explain why Enocencio-Peck’s work at funerals and his role at this ceremony matter so much on Hawaii Island.

The day also came under a statewide directive. Gov. Josh Green ordered the U.S. flag and the Hawaii state flag flown at half-staff on May 22, 2026, at the State Capitol, state offices and agencies, and the Hawaii National Guard for Memorial Day observance. In Hilo, that civic order met a local tradition built by volunteers, veterans and families who return each year to make memory tangible.