American Battle Monument Commission, Gold Star Families honor hundreds of previously missing Vietnam Veterans at Honolulu Memorial
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Press release
American Battle Monument Commission, Gold Star Families honor hundreds of previously missing Vietnam Veterans at Honolulu Memorial
Thirty Gold Star Families honor loved ones in largest event of its kind on POW/MIA Recognition Day
ARLINGTON, Va. (Sept. 20, 2024) – Today, 30 Gold Star Families—along with non-profit groups, military service academies, and federal agencies—joined the American Battle Monuments Commission at its Honolulu Memorial in Hawaii to honor more than 160 U.S. service members from the Vietnam War who had been declared missing, and have since been accounted for by the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency and its predecessors.
ABMC commemorates by name more than 94,000 service members missing in action, lost, or buried at sea at its sites around the world, including more than 2,500 from the Vietnam War at the Honolulu Memorial. Placing a bronze rosette beside these names, inscribed in stone tablets, signifies an individual has been accounted for. As part of the effort beginning today, more than 950 total rosettes will be placed beside names on this memorial’s walls.
Among the families placing the rosettes were Suzanne Sylvester and her mother Sandy Sylvester. Suzanne honored her father, U.S. Air Force Capt. Raymond Salzarulo Jr., an F-4C Phantom pilot who was shot down Sept. 4, 1966, over Vietnam. In September 1990, the Vietnamese government repatriated a set of remains they associated with Capt. Salzarulo, and in 1991, U.S. analysts confirmed the identification. His father, Maj. Raymond Salzarulo, is also commemorated at the Honolulu Memorial as he remains unaccounted for from World War II, after his plane crashed off the coast of Midway shortly after takeoff June 7, 1942.
"There's only one father and son World War II/Vietnam loss and that's my grandfather and my dad", said Sylvester.
Ceremony remarks were provided by U.S. Air Force Maj. Gen. Sharon Bannister, daughter of U.S. Air Force Capt. Stephen A. Rusch (formerly missing in action, now accounted for); Colleen Shine, daughter of U.S. Air Force Lt. Col. Anthony C. Shine (formerly missing in action, now accounted for) and representative for Sons and Daughters In Touch; DPAA Principal Deputy Secretary Fern Sumpter Winbush; ABMC Secretary Charles K. Djou; and White House Asian American, Native Hawaiian, and Pacific Islander Senior Advisor Keone Nakoa.
"When we send our young, when we send our brave, when we send our finest abroad to fight, we will do everything we can to make sure that they come home", said Djou.
Additional rosettes for service members from the Korean War and World War II will also be positioned through the end of October, bringing the total placements to more than 1,000.
The Honolulu Memorial was dedicated in 1966 to honor the sacrifices and achievements of American armed forces in the Pacific during World War II and the Korean War, and since expanded to include those missing from the Vietnam War. In total, the memorial commemorates nearly 29,000 individuals.
For more information about ABMC, please visit our website abmc.gov or our social media platforms: Facebook, X, Instagram and LinkedIn.
Press Contact:
Hélène Chaulin
+33 1 40 75 27 55
About American Battle Monuments Commission:
The American Battle Monuments Commission operates and maintains 26 cemeteries and 31 federal memorials, monuments, and commemorative plaques in 17 countries throughout the world, including the United States. The three memorials in the United States are: the Honolulu Memorial located within the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific in Honolulu, Hawaii; the West Coast Memorial located within the Presidio National Park in San Francisco, Calif; and the East Coast Memorial located within Battery City Park in New York, N.Y. Since March 4, 1923, ABMC’s sacred mission remains to honor the service, achievements, and sacrifice of more than 200,000 U.S. service members buried and memorialized at our sites. For more information about ABMC, visit abmc.gov.
About Honolulu Memorial:
Honolulu Memorial Tour (abmc.gov)
Video and Drone Footage: Honolulu Memorial | Flickr
Credits: Courtesy of American Battle Monuments Commission