After a two-year COVID-19-induced hiatus, tonight a group of Hawaii Vietnam Veterans will be bringing back an annual tradition of meeting at Korea and Vietnam War Memorials by the state capitals from 11 p.m. until about midnight.

In a handout provided to the Honolulu Star-Advertiser, organizers said “this will be the twenty-eighth year for this low-key, un-sponsored event, which is simply about fellowship, remembrance and honoring those we lost.” In previous years about 60 to 75 people have attended.

The gathering will open with a traditional Hawaiian chant and will end at midnight with a candle lighting and singing of “Silent Night.”

The event is open to Vietnam Veterans, friends, family and anyone else interested in attending said Allen Hoe, a Vietnam Veteran and one of the organizers of the event.

“Our thoughts and prayers will be with those who served and did not come home, and with our young brothers and sisters in uniform spending their Christmas Eve in harm’s way in other dangerous places around the world,” the handout read.