Fallen Americans from World War I to the current sacrifices made by U.S. soldiers, sailors, airmen and Marines were remembered yesterday as the National Cemetery of the Pacific at Punchbowl continued the tradition of honoring its dead on Memorial Day.

Mayor Mufi Hannemann led the 59th annual Mayor's Memorial Day Ceremony, which included junior ROTC cadets and general officers, elected officials, veterans and others who laid wreaths at the cemetery's Dedicatory Stone.

Cub Scouts, Boy Scouts and Girl Scouts had placed lei and tiny flags on the graves of Punchbowl's 44,000 dead on Sunday. And yesterday, Hannemann looked out over the sea of flags and said, "We are here today to remember and to honor every one of them and to express our gratitude and appreciation to those who continue to serve us and put themselves in harm's way in defense of our country."

Light sprinkles of rain — broken up by brilliant sunshine — fell over yesterday's standing-room-only crowd of several hundred people.

The service included a three-gun volley and 21-gun salute by an honor guard from Hickam Air Force Base; the wail of taps from a sailor's trumpet; and the "missing man" formation flown over the crater by four F-15 Eagle fighter jets from the Hawai'i Air National Guard's 199th Squadron.

Hannemann spoke of the nearly 10,000 Hawai'i men who joined "The War to End All Wars" — World War I — through World War II and the sacrifices that followed in places like Korea, Vietnam, Grenada, Lebanon, Kuwait, Somalia, Iraq and Afghanistan.

Much of Hannemann's focus was on Hawai'i and the changes that hit the Islands beginning with the Dec. 7, 1941, Japanese attack, including the discrimination faced by Nisei soldiers who volunteered for the fight even as their relatives were placed in Japanese internment camps here and on the Mainland.

"Men from all walks of life answered the call to arms," Hannemann said. "Too many would never see their loved ones again."

But Hannemann spoke of soldiers from every war when he said, "We are gathered here today to remember and to honor all the men and women of our Air Force, Army, Coast Guard, Marine Corps and Navy. We are here to recall the incredible sacrifices they have made, and to acknowledge a debt that can never be repaid in full."