The Northern Kentucky Young Marines unit from Latonia was one of 28 Young Marines units throughout the United States who traveled to Hawaii this past week to participate in the remembrance ceremonies of the 82nd anniversary of Pearl Harbor.
The Young Marines is a national youth organization for boys and girls from age eight through high school graduation.
Twenty-eight Young Marine units from across the U.S. were in Hawaii for Pearl Harbor remembrance events. They hosted a wreath-laying ceremony at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific, a national cemetery located at the Punchbowl Crater in Honolulu. (Photo from Young Marines)
Hundreds of Young Marines performed a number of community service activities while in Oahu, Hawaii. They met, greeted, and escorted World War II Veterans at various events.
Among the events in which the Northern Kentucky Young Marines participated were:
• Community service work on the Mālama Pu’uloa Community Project at Kapapapuhi Point Park.
• Wreath laying ceremony at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific “The Punchbowl” in memory of all the men and women who are interred at the site
• Klipper Ceremony, Marine Corps Base Hawaii
• Pearl Harbor Memorial Parade, Honolulu
A significant honor for all the Young Marine units was to lead the Pearl Harbor Memorial Parade, on Thursday, December 7, in Honolulu. Young Marines performed a color guard and carried the banners of the 12 capital ships that were attacked. They also assisted with many of the floats in the parade.
The parade’s objective is to honor the heroes and survivors of Pearl Harbor and World War II, to pay tribute to veterans, active-duty military members and military families, to celebrate freedom, and to keep in remembrance the heinous events of Sunday, December 7, 1941.
Young Marines from 28 units across the nation begin their week of service during the Pearl Harbor remembrance on Oahu, Hawaii at the Mokapu’u Lighthouse. (Photo from Young Marines)
“Because of the pandemic the last couple of years, we didn’t have the usual Young Marines participation in all of the remembrance events, so it is doubly meaningful that so many Young Marines are again present here this year,” said Col William P. Davis USMC (Ret), national executive director and CEO of the Young Marines. “It is an honor and lasting memory for each Young Marine to participate in the anniversary, meet and listen to veterans tell their stories, and memorialize veterans who are no longer with us.”
All Young Marines units raised funds at the local level to supplement the costs of traveling to Hawaii. These youth members used their creativity, and applied the program’s core values – leadership, teamwork, and self-discipline – to implement unique and effective fundraising efforts to attend this educational and patriotic event.
Since the Young Marines’ beginnings in 1959 with one unit and a handful of boys, the organization has grown to over 238 units with 6,400 youth and 2,750 adult volunteers in 40 states, the District of Columbia, Japan (Okinawa), and affiliates in a host of other countries.
For more information on the Northern Kentucky Young Marines, visit theie website at youngmarines.org/northernkentucky.
For more information on the Young Marines, visit the website at www.YoungMarines.org.
Young Marines
