Here is an interesting link between my old High School in Virginia and Hawaii.

I first attended Fork Union Military Academy in 1962 so I did not know the teacher.

Here is 2 pages from a 1958 yearbook. The 4th photo on the top page (the guy with all the medals) is a Math Teacher. He is about to retire from that, but in December 1958 he came back to Hawaii.

Here is a bit about the gathering and why he came back to Hawaii.

WIKIPEDIA:  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_Arizona_Memorial

During and following the end of World War II, Arizona‘s wrecked superstructure was removed and efforts began to erect a memorial at the remaining submerged hull.

The Navy placed the first permanent memorial, a 10-foot (3 m)-tall basalt stone and plaque, over the mid-ship deckhouse on December 7, 1955. President Dwight D. Eisenhower approved the creation of a National Memorial in 1958. Enabling legislation required the memorial, budgeted at $500,000, be privately financed; however, $200,000 of the memorial cost was government subsidized.

Principal contributions to the memorial included:

• $50,000 Territory of Hawaiʻi initial contribution in 1958
• $95,000 privately raised following a 1958 This Is Your Life television segment featuring Rear Admiral (ret.) Samuel G. Fuqua, Medal of Honor recipient and the senior surviving officer from the Arizona
• $64,000 from a March 25, 1961 benefit concert by Elvis Presley, which was his final live performance until 1968

Note that his appearance on the TV show raised lots of money for the memorial.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L2UXz5QZMUM

The full video: https://archive.org/details/this_is_your_life_samuel_g_fuqua