Queen Liliʻuokalani’s 185th birthday was celebrated this year with weekend-long festivities, starting Friday at Schofield Barracks Army Base.
Members of Hawaiian Royal Societies took part in a gathering that started in 2015 to recall how in 1913, the queen traveled across the island to donate a pair of bronze vases to Soldiers Chapel.
The chapel was used by 13,000 soldiers from the then-newly established Schofield Barracks.
Army historian David Crowley, who is with the Army’s cultural resources program, said that with the passage of time, the chapel was rebuilt.
It’s unclear what happened to the vases, but a plaque and the queen’s picture hang in the chapel entrance. Thanks to the efforts of Kahu Kaleo Patterson, Saint Stephen’s Church and the Pacific Justice and Reconciliation Center and the U.S. Army, this annual event recalls that time in history.
"We're hoping it's going to be a development that enhances our community understanding of the Army, and that we're working together to build a better place Liliʻuokalani envisioned in her own life," Patterson said.
The service at the Soldiers Chapel also featured special music performed by musician and University of Hawaiʻi professor Jon Osorio.
It was the anthem the queen, originally composed for the kingdom, that was changed to Hawaiʻi Ponoʻi by King Kalakaua.
This interview aired on The Conversation on Sept. 5, 2023. The Conversation airs weekdays at 11 a.m. on HPR-1.
