Hawaii Five-0 Crew Disgraceful To WWII Pearl Harbor Survivors

Good evening all. I’m a little late on this, but better late then never. It seems the production company that produces the remake of Hawaii 5-0 managed to totally disgrace themselves in front of a number of Pearl Harbor veterans.

Allow me to give you a little background. The original TV series, Hawaii 5-0 ran in the 60’s and 70’s and revolved around a special police unit in Hawaii called 5-Oh. ((Hawaii Five-O)) It was your basic cop show and I used to watch. Recently, CBS decided to “Reimage” the series and bring it back into production. Both series were filmed on location in Hawaii.

Recently, an episode was being filmed in the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific. ((Also known as the Punchbowl National Cemetery)) Apparently, there were two major screw-ups during this filming. The first was the apparent double booking of the location by the managers running the cemetary. Both the H50 crew and Pearl Harbor survivors from the The Greatest Generations Foundation were scheduled to be there at the same time. The problems arose when the H50 production crew, showing a complete lack of common sense, basically insulted the vets, and for all intents and purposes, desecrated the graves of our honored dead.

The details of what happened are on the KOA 850 radio web site and were provided by Steffan Tubbs.

It looked strange from the moment we pulled up to the Punchbowl, a sacred Hawaiian site once the location for human sacrifice before Cook’s arrival to the islands. Our tour bus, filled with 23 WWII Pearl Harbor survivors as part of The Greatest Generations Foundation came to the beautiful location in an old crater above downtown Honolulu for a closing ceremony and presentation. The National Cemetery of the Pacific pays tribute to those veterans of all faiths who served their country, many who lost their lives during WWII.

I admit I was not happy two days earlier on the morning of December 7 at the Pearl Harbor Memorial service. Thousands of people in attendance, yet President Barack Obama – born just a few miles from the USS Arizona memorial – was not only a no-show, but did not bother to send a written or videotaped greeting of thanks to these men. And then there was no-show Interior Secretary Ken Salazar, his bio and picture listed in the program and scheduled to deliver remarks in person. The president I can slightly understand, but the former Colorado senator? What was going on that was so important he couldn’t make it on a private government jet to attend the last and final major Pearl Harbor survivors gathering? I am not aware of the circumstances, and perhaps there was a truly legitimate reason for Salazar’s absence, but I have yet to hear it. Instead, the National Park representative on site read a bizarre partial statement from the Secretary and then stopped mid-sentence, paused awkwardly, and said, “Thank you.”

How typical of the utter and complete contempt for our veterans shown by the Obama Administration and the Liberal Democrats. That useless idiot Obama couldn’t be bothered to visit these brave men and show his respect for the sacrifices they made so he could be the worst president in U.S. History.

As we drove in to the Punchbowl site with thousands of graves, large U-Haul-type trucks were lined along the boulevard as people with headsets scurried about acting busier than they really were. It took me just a few seconds to realize this was a production crew from the CBS series Hawaii Five-O. Their scene had something to do with lead character McGarrett visiting his father’s grave, which in reality was surrounded by the real graves of WWII heroes. It didn’t seem right. But I let it go.

It isn’t that unusual for film crews to use the cemetery as a backdrop. When we see this on television or in the movies, it’s always show deep respect for the men, and I assume women, who gave their lives in service to their country.

However, it seems that the actual production of this episode wasn’t quite as respectful as it should have been.

Within 30 minutes of our arrival, we conducted a small ceremony that began with the presentation of the Colors by the University of Hawaii Army ROTC. The National Anthem followed. I emceed the event and looked out on men who had been injured December 7, 1941 At least eight were in wheelchairs. Average age: 91. The others sat in plastic chairs underneath a large, temporary tent. The cemetery representatives could not have been more respectful and there to assist.

The people representing the Cemetery fully understand what they are there for and happily fulfill their duties to assist groups such as this. If they didn’t want to, they wouldn’t be working there. However the H50 production crew wasn’t so respectful.

Three hundred yards away and clearly visible to them, no one on the CBS production stopped for the anthem or any part of our program. This included the ending of our presentation – Taps and the moment of silence. I was perturbed, but because our veterans faced me, they couldn’t see the disrespect. The ceremony ended and several men hopped on golf carts to visit their fallen comrades buried in other parts of the cemetery.

Now I will grant the possibility that the H50 crew wasn’t aware of what was going on or it’s importance. Depending on the wind, they may not have heard the Anthem or Taps being played. Mr. Tubbs quickly found out that it didn’t matter if the H50 crew was aware or not.

Mr. Tubbs went over to the production site, being careful not to get into any potential shots being done. He ran into an idiot of a production assistant who “politely told me to keep moving.” Mr. Tubbs was not a happy camper and with this and informed the idiot that there were a number of WW2 vets, including some Pearl Harbor vets. This impressed the idiot not at all.

I was told, “Sorry, sir. We rented this part of the cemetery today.” My blood started to boil, but I remained calm and moved on. As I stood behind the tent, the director yelled at everyone to: “Get out of the line of sight! If you don’t belong here, clear out!”

Well now, the H50 production crew is off to a fine start with Mr. Tubbs I would say.

I made sure to go where I was basically invisible, 40 yards from the nearest camera when the director heatedly walked to me. He was not happy. “Can you please move?” he said sternly. “OK,” I said. “Where would you like me to go? I have Pearl survivors who are here visiting their fallen comrades at a public cemetery.”

He couldn’t have cared less and told me that if we stood behind a tent, that would be fine. He walked away completely frustrated and yelled at a local assistant: “I am doing YOUR job! You wanna come back here again? Do your job!” I felt sorry for her. It wasn’t her fault a group of vets actually came back for a real reason to this cemetery. Having been around a few movie sets, I knew this was how they were especially if the scene was behind schedule, etc.

It gets progressively worse and I strongly recommend you go to the KOA850.com and read the story and take a look at the pictures. Apparently two of the H50 actors were on site doing a scene. (Alex O’Laughlin and Terry O’Quinn) Mr. Tubbs has been in contact with CBS about this and the apologies have been flying fast and furious. Whether they are genuine or not, I have no idea.

I watch the new version of Hawaii 5-0 and was very dismayed to hear about this. I’m also rather annoyed at the Cemetery staff for not having someone with the production crew to make sure they didn’t do the stupid things that they did. (Walking across the graves, standing on the markers, etc) They should have had someone there with the authority to shut them down if they need to. It appears the need was there.

Emperor Misha of the Anti-Idiotarian Rottweiler wrote a brief blog post about this and there is quite a discussion going on over the insults by the H50 production staff. One of the posters remarked that if the Director and producer had two functioning braincells between them they could have included the veterans in the scene they were shooting. I tend to agree with this. Something like that, properly advertised, would have helped their ratings immensely, and from what I’ve read, they can use all the ratings help they can get. Having Grace Park running around in tiny bikini can only go so far.

Contact CBS and feel free to rip them a new one. Personally, I think the director and producer should go back to waiting on tables. With their obvious lack of common sense, that’s all they’re good for.

Thatisall

~The Angry Webmaster~

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