MEDIA RELEASE

National Park Service and Pacific Historic Parks are sponsoring the first-ever Dec. 7 Reading Aloud event with 6,000 students across Hawaii, including students from 11 Big Island schools.

Through the Department of Education’s and the Island of Hawaii YMCA’s A+ Afterschool Care Programs, Big Island students at 11 schools will join their peers across the state to read the award-winning book, “Pearl Harbor Warriors: The Bugler, The Pilot, The Friendship.”

The children’s book relays the real-life story of an unlikely friendship between the late Pearl Harbor Survivor Richard Fiske and Japanese Fighter Pilot Zenji Abe.

It is a moving story of peace and forgiveness and how these men, who were once enemies of war, overcame their hatred and fear for one another.

Pacific Historic Parks purchased 175 copies of the book to provide to each participating school. Pacific Historic Parks, a cooperating association that assists the National Park Service, supports the education, preservation, development and interpretation of four National Park-managed historic sites throughout the Pacific, including Pearl Harbor.