Building 419

       More Letters From Paradise
             Building 419
This is a reprint from a story I wrote some time ago. I thought I had lost it, so here it is again. Maybe it's new to  my recent readers.
 
             Building 419
In an area of Honolulu known only to a few and forgotten by many, is this huge warehouse. Built in 1935, and slated to be torn down along with its warehouse companions. The wood is riddled by termites and is thought to be haunted by ghosts. The building was once home to sorrow and grief. It was here that the bodies of servicemen were brought for inspection, given a brief religious service, then placed in coffins to be sent home.

Beginning with Korea, then in the 1960's and 1970's, war dead from Vietnam came through here. Building 419 served as an over-flow mortuary during the periods of heavy fighting at Tan Son Nhut and DaNang. An embalmer who had worked there estimated that 40 to 80 bodies arrived every month.

For most of the service members killed in Vietnam, if a home town was east of the Mississippi River,the first port of call for entry into the U.S. was Dover, Delaware. If the home town was west of the Mississippi, the port of call was Oakland, California.

The huge warehouse is rented by a woman named Sandi Kamau'nu, as a military surplus store and museum. She is determined that this important bit of history not be forgotten. But it is a race between the wrecking ball and the termites. High above the wood crates, ponchos, and $7.49 helmets hangs a quiet sign which reads: "All Gave  Some. Some Gave All." How soon we forget that those $7.49 helmets were once sold for much more.
   
       Aloha
       Grant