Hawaii is home to the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific, a major Memorial Day site.
The cemetery is located in Honolulu’s Punchbowl crater, an extinct volcanic formation known in Hawaiian as Puowaina. It was established after the Second World War and became a major burial place for U.S. veterans and service members from the Pacific region.
The cemetery’s grounds include the Courts of the Missing, which commemorate service members whose remains were not recovered or identified. Its location gives Memorial Day observances in Hawaii a strong connection to the Pacific campaigns of the Second World War and later American conflicts.
The cemetery is administered by the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs through the National Cemetery Administration. It is sometimes called the Punchbowl, but that nickname refers to its distinctive geographic setting rather than its official name.