Lei Kahanu Girelli held her Veterans Day ritual at Puukamalii Cemetery faithfully every year even though it seemed no one was listening.

Today, she will go to the cemetery with her banner, her American flags, her lei and her family with new vindication for her efforts. After years of insisting there are dozens of unmarked graves of World War I soldiers at the small 'Alewa Heights cemetery, finally something is being done.

Sen. Daniel Akaka called a meeting last week with representatives of Veterans Affairs, American Legion, National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific and the state Department of Accounting and General Services to discuss what can be done about the graves. Girelli, now 79, brought all her meticulous research to the meeting, including photos of the rites she has held at the cemetery every Veterans Day.

"Mrs. Girelli's collection of documents was very helpful," said Jesse Broder Van Dyke of Akaka's Honolulu office.

Girelli remembers visiting family graves at the cemetery when she was a child. She clearly recalls rows and rows of tall headstones marking the resting places of WWI veterans on the mauka side of the cemetery. Those stones are now gone and the area is mowed smooth. Several years ago, Girelli found a number of broken headstones thrown in a pit on the side of the property. She worries that there are more headstones buried there and forgotten.

As a result of last week's meeting, the VA agreed to provide a memorial stone marker to honor those in unmarked graves at Puukamalii, which was formerly known as Kalaepohaku Cemetery.

The task now is to reach out to the public to gather any information families may have about veterans buried there, or even remains that have been moved from there and reinterred elsewhere. The cemetery is just below Natsunoya Tea House on land that used to be part of Bishop Estate but was transferred to the territory of Hawai'i and then the state. Record keeping at the time was nonexistent and there is no master list of who is buried in that sunny hillside.

If the exact graves of the soldiers can't be positively identified, there is also the possibility of erecting a monument that states every effort was made to verify the resting places of the veterans, and though the graves are unmarked and can't be known, the gratitude and aloha for their service endures.

Girelli will be back at Puukamalii today with her banner and flags to mark Veterans Day for all those unknowns she can't forget. She thought about scaling back now that her efforts have won validation.

"I told them at the meeting, maybe I can take a rest this year, but they said no, keep going." So she will.

To share information on WWI veterans buried at Puukamalii Cemetery or to volunteer to serve on a memorial advisory committee, contact Akaka's Honolulu office at: Room 3-106, Prince Kuhio Federal Building, Honolulu, HI 96850; 522-8970; fax 545-4683; or see http://akaka.senate.gov.

Lee Cataluna's column runs Tuesdays, Fridays and Sundays. Reach her at 535-8172 or lcataluna@honoluluadvertiser.com.