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Pearl Harbor veteran honored with inflight hula, song

In a Thursday, Nov. 8, 2016 photo provided by Brooks Onishi, Hawaiian Airlines flight attendant Lehua Beltrame-Tevaga greets passenger Ray Richmond during a flight from Honolulu to San Diego. She danced a hula to honor him as a survivor of the Pearl Harbor attack. Richmond was returning to San Diego after attending a ceremony marking the 75th anniversary of the Japan attack. (AP Photo/Brooks Onishi)
In a Thursday, Nov. 8, 2016 photo provided by Brooks Onishi, Hawaiian Airlines flight attendant Lehua Beltrame-Tevaga greets passenger Ray Richmond during a flight from Honolulu to San Diego. She danced a hula to honor him as a survivor of the Pearl Harbor attack. Richmond was returning to San Diego after attending a ceremony marking the 75th anniversary of the Japan attack. (AP Photo/Brooks Onishi) In a Thursday, Nov. 8, 2016 photo provided by Brooks Onishi, Hawaiian Airlines flight attendant Lehua Beltrame-Tevaga greets passenger Ray Richmond during a flight from Honolulu to San Diego. She danced a hula to honor him as a survivor of the Pearl Harbor attack. Richmond was returning to San Diego after attending a ceremony marking the 75th anniversary of the Japan attack. (AP Photo/Brooks Onishi)

By Associated Press 2 min read

HONOLULU (AP) – A group of Hawaii musicians and a Hawaiian Airlines flight attendant provided special inflight entertainment to a Pearl Harbor survivor flying home from a ceremony commemorating the 75th anniversary of the attack.

Ray Richmond, 97, and his family were the last passengers to board Thursday’s flight from Honolulu to San Diego, said flight attendant Lehua Beltrame-Tevaga, who is also the reigning Mrs. Hawaii America. She noticed that the family seemed a little upset, so during takeoff she and some crewmembers brainstormed about a way to cheer them up, she said.

Also on the flight were the three members of well-known Hawaii group, Makaha Sons. So Beltrame-Tevaga asked them if they wouldn’t mind singing for Richmond.

With an hour left in the flight, they went to the row where Richmond was sitting with his family. The lead flight attendant announced that Richmond was a Pearl Harbor veteran. Beltrame-Tevaga took a lei from around her neck and placed it on Richmond.

Mark Yim of the group played the guitar while Jerome Koko and Kimo Artis sang “Papalina Lahilahi.” Beltrame-Tevaga danced hula next to Richmond’s seat.