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Hawaiian warrior spirit lives at Army's Nainoa Hoe Center

Feb-19-2007 » Filed Under: 1/25 SBCT

The following artcle was sent by Allen Hoe, Nainoa's father, and describes the ceremonies surrounding the opening.

By Dan Nakaso, Honolulu Advertiser

SCHOFIELD BARRACKS — Allen Hoe wore his son's oversized desert combat boots, his own Vietnam War medals and carried an ancient Hawaiian battle weapon made of wood and shark teeth.

In a mix of modern military ceremony and ancient Hawaiian warrior rituals, Hoe yesterday offered a chant in honor of his son, Army 1st Lt. Nainoa Hoe, who was killed in Iraq in 2005.

The event was the dedication of a new, state-of-the-art simulation combat training center in honor of the fallen soldier.

In the background hung the U.S. flag that Allen Hoe's Vietnam reconnaissance team carried into combat in 1968 and Nainoa Hoe later carried with him in Iraq.

"This building will bear the name of Nainoa and our family," Allen Hoe told those gathered inside the $33 million, 90,000-square-foot training center. "In Hawaiian culture, the act of giving a name to anyone or anything is a most serious matter. ... Certain words like names have influence and impact, for they have mana, spiritual power, prestige, history, as well as authority, strength and honor."

A contingent of four Hawaiian warriors performed a battle dance and later stood guard over Hoe's lei-draped portrait hanging in the center's lobby.

The battle dance was intended to fill the new center with "the ancient warrior spirit," the elder Hoe said, so that "those who train here find in this place all that is needed to fulfill their individual and collective destinies as warriors in service to us all." [...]

The article continues.


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