National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific

The National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific occupies the interior of Punchbowl Crater, an extinct volcanic tuff cone that rises from the landscape of Honolulu. Known in the Hawaiian language as Puowaina, or Hill of Sacrifice, the crater was used for ancient religious offerings long before its twentieth-century transformation. Following the intensity of the Pacific Theater during World War II, the site was established in nineteen forty-nine as a final resting place for military casualties.