My Mana’o from Iraq

August 16, 2005

Contributed by KS Webmaster

Our beloved Princess desired that her people become good and industrious citizens. Many of us choose to do so in the service of our nation and through our efforts we served all the people of Hawaii and the United States.

Because of her gift I have taught and mentored hundreds of Hawaiians and non-Hawaiians in the United States Army. All of them knew I was Hawaiian, knew that I was a Kamehameha graduate and benefited from the vision of Bernice Pauahi Bishop. The reason I ended my Army retirement and deployed to Iraq was to be with those soldiers.

We do not get much news here. We are constantly on guard against the terrorists who would seek to end our lives, as we free the people of Iraq. It is a Twenty-Four hour a day, seven day a week struggle in a hostile environment and under extreme weather conditions. We have lost many men and women here, many of them friends and family and some of them, graduates of the Kamehameha Schools.

It is an appalling feeling that numbs you when you lose a friend in combat. We have all experienced it here, but nothing prepared us for the shocking news from the Ninth Circuit Court ruling.
The report traveled quickly though our informal network of over 50 graduates in Southwest Asia. I remember getting the emails and visits. All of us felt betrayed and saddened. We questioned why, as we fight for the freedom of so many, our own people are denied the benefits of an education from a private personal gift of our last Ali'i.

This was inconceivable to all of us. Many of us became extremely angry and lost our focus on our combat mission here, which put us in extreme danger.

We felt the same emotions we did when Sergeant Frank Tia'i was killed outside the gate here in Balad last month. Anger, sadness, revenge and rage pummeled our senses.

In the Army, when you are in an emergency situation, you are taught to rely on your training. I have in life and death situations, when seconds count and your training and instincts take over. To survive you must following your training with great discipline.

With the spirit and discipline of a Kamehameha education and our beloved Princess Pauahi we regained control. We talked, and prayed for our people. Gradually we over came the negative emotions and vowed to strive to do what is pono, to continue to be good and industrious citizens and to return to Hawaii alive and ready to once again demonstrate that the gift of a Kamehameha education benefits all the people of the world.

The legacy of the Kamehameha Schools is being felt in Iraq, Afghanistan and everywhere Kamehameha graduates live and travel. It also continues keeping a native people?s hope for the future alive.

My prayers and thoughts are with all of you back in Hawaii, as I and other graduates continue to serve our nation. I pray that the court system of the United States will see the error of their judgment and understand that our desire is to allow the Kamehameha Schools to continue to produce good and industrious Hawaiian citizens, which benefits everyone.

Kimo Bacon, Colonel US Army (Retired)
Serving with the US Army Aviation & Missile Command, Balad Iraq.
Kamehameha Class of 1971

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