A 12-FOOT monkeypod carving of a Polynesian warrior and spear was installed at the University of Hawaii ROTC complex May 9 in honor of 14 UH former cadets and two former instructors who lost their lives in wars. Families of those lost were also honored at the ceremony. Retired Army Col. Ed Gayagas, attorney Allen Hoe and Army Maj. John Carson, a professor of military science, were instrumental in the project. Gayagas, a 2013 UH Distinguished Alumni Award recipient, and Hoe both served in Vietnam. Hoe’s son, 1st. Lt. Nainoa K. Hoe, was killed in Iraq in 2005. The carving was by Tongan SioneTui‘one Pulotu, who received Honpa Hongwanji Mission of Hawai‘i’s Living Treasures of Hawai‘i award for woodcarving in 2005 …
Gayagas’ UH ROTC classmate, basketball teammate from 1957-60 under coach Al Saake and frat brother, retired Army Col. Billy Olds, is arriving home Thursday from Las Vegas to attend family milestone events. "Billy and I spent a lot of time together in Nam when he was wounded and I brought him to my hospital in 1968 at Long Binh (93rd Evac. Hosp.) where I assigned a full-time nurse to him and had him fed steak, lobster and poi when I could find it," Gayagas said this week. "Instead of returning home for R & R, his wounds were serious enough to warrant evacuation, he chose to remain at Long Binh for almost two months."
Olds, who speaks fluent Arabic, is counterterrorist professional mentor in Afghanistan for the police and in Iraq for the Iraqi Military Counter-Terrorist Command. He and wife Merriam will attend Kamehameha graduation events for grandson Ryan Stack on May 24 and 25. Ryan is the son of Billy’s daughter, attorney Janeen-Ann Olds, and retired Navy Capt. Rick Stack. Janeen is chairwoman of the Kamehameha Schools Board of Trustees. Ryan has received a swimming scholarship to the University of Wisconsin.
Also, on May 25, Billy’s nephew Ikaika Olds marries Tracy Konn in Dole Cannery’s Pomaikai Ballroom. The wedding is seven hours prior to Ryan’s Kamehameha graduation at Blaisdell Arena. Ikaika is an Iraq War veteran and son of Bill’s younger brother, Mark Norman Olds Jr., and his late wife, Clara Campbell Olds. Ikaika’s uncle is Hawaii’s Gary Campbell, who played for the Chicago Bears. Brothers Billy and Mark served together in Vietnam in 1968. "Our parents had to sign a waiver for us both to be in a combat zone at the same time," Billy said …
MOVING ON: La Pietra grad Dr. Kanani Titchen, a former actress who became a doctor, was awarded $25,000 for winning the Medelita H.E.R.O. resident grant/honorarium for her efforts to humanize medicine. Kanani came out on top among 10 medical residents in the U.S. who were in the running for the award. Medelita makes professional lab coats and medical scrubs. The award was announced April 25. Kanani is a pediatric resident at Alfred I. duPont Hospital for Children in Wilmington, Del., and also works at Thomas Jefferson University Hospital in Philadelphia. She is primarily at the children’s hospital.
Kanani is the immediate past resident division president of the American Medical Women’s Association. She is doing her best to educate physicians about child sex trafficking and has raised approximately $30,000 to this end, she wrote in an email. "I entered medicine as a second career after working as an actress in a repertory theater that told good stories well.I now relate this philosophy to medicine by getting good things done. This motivates me to stay true to my passions of social justice and helping disenfranchised children." Kanani is the daughter of Kathy and the late photographer Jack Titchen, both former Star-Bulletin staffers …
Ben Wood, who sold newspapers on Honolulu streets in World War II, writes of people, places and things. Email him at bwood@staradvertiser.com.
