For most of the year, Rob Lee will hang the Hawaiian flag in front of his Kāneʻohe home. But for the week of U.S. Independence Day, he’ll swap it for the American flag.
Lee is a Native Hawaiian U.S. military veteran. He served 36 years in the Air Force, retiring as a command chief master sergeant in the Hawaiʻi Air National Guard.
“I try my very best to honor my ancestors, living a life of aloha, being pono, and having pride in our national colors, respecting our national code, our flag and our country,” he said.
Fourth of July is a complicated holiday for many Native Hawaiians who served in the U.S. military.
There's a long history of Native Hawaiians participating in American wars dating back to the Hawaiian Kingdom. They participated in the War of 1812 and the Civil War.
For Native Hawaiian veterans and active service members, that relationship is nuanced.
Lee comes from a line of family members who served the United States. His father worked at Pearl Harbor as a civilian Department of Defense worker when the Japanese attacked on Dec. 7, 1941. His uncle and grandfather served in the U.S. Army.
Lee took on the tradition and joined the Air Force when he was 19.
He said it’s a balance of honoring being a Kanaka Maoli but also being one who served the country.
While Lee comes from a military background, he recognizes the military's history with the American-backed overthrow of the Hawaiian Kingdom.
When he got out of the military, he studied Hawaiian studies at the University of Hawai‘i, which he said allowed him to dive deeper into learning about his culture and history.
“It’s a bittersweet moment not only leading up to it but even after and thinking about what could have been,” he said of the overthrow.
Oʻahu-based artist Haunani Hess doesn’t celebrate the Fourth of July, given the military’s dark past in Hawai‘i.
She was born at Tripler Army Medical Center on Oʻahu, and traveled the world like many military dependents.
Her grandfather fought in the Korean War and in the Vietnam War, where he also fought alongside her father.
“I don't think there was much thought put into it,” she said of why her father joined the military. “I think it was just kind of just the natural thing for him to do because my dad did really admire his father. “
While many see Fourth of July as a day off from work, Lee said it’s OK to honor the country, but never to forget this part of Hawai‘i’s history.
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