Oahu is the Hawaiian island that holds the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific. Known informally as Punchbowl Cemetery, it occupies Punchbowl Crater, an extinct volcanic crater in Honolulu. The cemetery is administered by the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs and honors service members who served in the American armed forces.
The site opened for interments in 1949. Remains from across the Pacific theater, including World War II dead, were brought to Hawaii for burial. More than 61,000 graves are located at the cemetery, making it one of the most prominent military cemeteries in the United States.
The Honolulu Memorial within the cemetery includes Courts of the Missing, whose marble walls list service members missing or lost at sea in the Pacific conflicts. It honors Americans connected with World War II and the Korean War, and was later expanded to include the Vietnam War.
The island name can cause confusion: Hawaii is both the name of the state and the state’s largest island, but Honolulu and Punchbowl Cemetery are on Oahu.