By Air Force Staff Sgt. Christopher Hubenthal Defense Media
Activity - Hawaii
NATIONAL MEMORIAL CEMETERY OF THE PACIFIC, Hawaii, November
10, 2015 — Veterans Day serves as a time to celebrate and honor American
veterans for their patriotism, love of country, and willingness to serve and
sacrifice for the preservation and protection of the nation. For some veterans,
taking time to honor and remember those who served is a way of life.
Chris Farley, a Navy veteran and a caretaker at the National
Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific here in Honolulu, helps commemorate the memory
of the fallen that are interred or memorialized at the NMCP. He is responsible
for the maintenance of the 112.5 acres of land that make up the cemetery, the
56,971 gravesites of those who are interred in-ground or in-columbarium, and
the 28,788 fallen who are memorialized in the courts of the missing.
As he performs his daily tasks, Farley said he keeps in mind
the significance of the responsibility to honor and preserve the memories of
those who served before him.
Honoring Veterans
“As a duty to our veterans that served our country and paid
the ultimate sacrifice, it’s an honor to do it for us as a nation,” Farley
said. “Our country appreciates that we remember our fallen in this way. It’s an
honor to take care of the veterans.”
Farley’s responsibilities at the cemetery include ensuring
the upkeep of the grounds and supporting events such as burials, disinterment
and interment ceremonies. Another inherent part of his job is representing what
the cemetery stands for on a daily basis when interacting with visitors.
“I get a lot of satisfaction when I see the response of the
visitors and the families of those that we are doing this service for,” Farley
said. “I’ve done a little bit of cemetery rep work where we bring the family up
to the ceremony and then bring them down to the gravesite. It’s a very personal
moment, of course, for them and to be involved with that I want to make sure
that we’re doing the best job that we can do and honor their memory for their
loved ones.”
James Horton, director of the NMCP and a retired Air Force
colonel, said the work Farley and other veteran employees do day to day is
essential for the success of the cemetery.
Keeping the Cemetery Beautiful
“They are responsible for mowing smaller areas, the trimming
of the markers and trees, and they are the ones who make sure that everything
is looking as beautiful as it can,” Horton said. “They’re actually face to face
with folks who are here visiting so they become the faces of the cemetery
themselves and they are very proud of that.”
Horton said that Farley has a personal investment when
working at the cemetery. For Farley, working on the grounds brings him closer
to family.
Farley’s late father, Bob Farley, served in the U.S. Marine
Corps as an aviator and reached the rank of colonel. He was a major influence
in Chris’s life and it was because of his father’s character that Chris decided
to join the U.S. Navy in 1982 as an air traffic controller.
“My parents are both buried here and a lot of my father’s
friends and my friend’s parents are buried here,” Farley said. “I’ve always
enjoyed aviation and he was a pilot so I looked into joining the service. I
enjoyed being in the Navy. It teaches you discipline, how to take care of
yourself, and I learned a trade, one that brought me closer to my father in
particular because he was a pilot. That was good for our relationship.”
Farley often finds himself visiting his parent’s gravesite
as he fulfills his daily duties.
“I do it almost every day,” he said. “I look it over and
read it again and again. It brings back memories for me and pride in my family.
On holidays and birthdays, Father’s Day and Mother’s Day, I try to be the
regular average visitor who comes up here to pay respects to their family. I
miss them a lot.”
Hard Work, Compassion
Horton said Farley has distinguished himself at the cemetery
due to his hard work and compassion towards the NMCP’s goals.
“He is a great success story,” Horton said. “He was hired on
as a temporary lower wage grade and made it through that period and competed
and won a higher grade position. He has worked his way very quickly in just
over a year and a half up to a very high level caretaker position here at the
cemetery because of his work ethic and because of his dedication to the
mission.”
Twenty veteran staff members at the NMCP work as cemetery
caretakers and five veterans work as part of the administrative staff to help
ensure that those who rest here are remembered and honored throughout time.
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