Veterans Corner

Community Contributed

By Jesse Church

Aloha all my fellow veterans and residents of Molokai, old Jesse here with all the veterans news and upcoming events.

If you’ve been downrange, you’re familiar with “HESCOs,” the dirt-filled barriers used to fortify bases in Afghanistan and Iraq. So why do they carry this name? HESCOs are an invention of British businessman Jimi Heselden, whose HESCO Bastion has produced the barriers since the early 1990s, according to the company’s website. Heselden invented the containers to combat coastal erosion, but they’ve since been adopted by militaries around the globe. The actual name of the product is Concertainer Unit but the name never stuck. Troops call them HESCOs. Heselden’s other creations include the Segway, which some stateside military bases use.

I hope that everyone did well with the last question, which was, “Hawaii is the only state to grow what drinkable crop?” The answer is coffee. Our new question is, “Liliuokalani, Hawaii’s last queen, wrote what popular song?”

On this date in history: Nov. 6, 1860, Abraham Lincoln is elected the 16th U.S. president. Nov. 8, 1932, Franklin Delano Roosevelt is elected the 32nd president. Nov. 8, 1980, Ronald Reagan is elected the 40th president. Nov. 11, 1938, on her national radio show, singer Kate Smith does a 20-year-old Irving Berlin song never been performed in public, called “God Bless America.”

A couple of days ago I went to the post office to get my mail, and there was a sales flyer from Misaki’s Market. As I was looking at the sale items, the first page caught my eye. It said “55 days till Christmas: Things to do before the end of the year. As I read the things on the list I stopped at one item and got a big smile on my face. It said, “Honor our veterans.” The next day I talked to Kevin Misaki, president of Misaki’s, Inc., and I told him how wonderful it was for someone to do something like that for Molokai’s veterans. He told me that his grandfather was a veteran who fought in World War II, and that he thinks highly of all Molokai’s veterans. Last year I wrote about the late Larry Helm and how he thought that the community or local government should plan an event for Memorial Day and Veterans Day, not the veteran groups. So hopefully this is a step in the right direction, and maybe someone, or group, or Molokai council will step up and start planning events. On behalf of the veterans of Molokai we say thank you to Mr. Kevin Misaki, the management and all the employees of Misaki’s Market.

Well, I hope that all of Molokai’s veterans enjoyed their special day yesterday, on Veterans Day. To all our active duty service, we thank you for your continued sacrifices, and our veterans for their past sacrifices, the people of Molokai say thank you. If anyone has any questions, suggestions, or news please give old Jesse a call at 553-3323. I continue to depend on your information. Have a wonderful week and remember that old Jesse loves you all dearly. Aloha.