Hundreds of people sit in front of this monument every day waiting for the bus without paying it any attention (maybe they're tired of seeing it). I myself have passed it many times, but when trying to locate it, thought to myself, King and Punchbowl -- where??? Whereas the gold-tipped fence posts surrounding 'Iolani Palace gleam, the ones around this World War II memorial are faded, just like its apparently fading relevance.
Roy King, a sculptor and civil engineer from Virginia that partnered on projects with famous Hawaii architects Ossipoff and Dickey throughout his career, won a competition to design this memorial in the early 1940s. The memorial, supposedly built of wood and stucco, was completed before WWII ended and dedicated on the third anniversary of the Pearl Harbor attack in 1944. The memorial lists some of the veterans that died in the war, but not all. It was initially intended to be a temporary fixture in the Downtown landscape, but still stands today in front of the Territorial Office Building and across the street from the main State Library near the intersection of King and Punchbowl. The structure was repaired in the 1990s when the wooden adornments were replaced with replicas made of a "plaster-like" material. The column is supposedly made of wood. The base appears to be CMU in an old photo.
Unfortunately, you can only view it from a distance because the gates are locked.
References and more information:
(1) Star Bulletin "Kokua Line" 1990s coverage.
(2) Wikipedia article on Roy King (lists his other HI projects).
(3) Blogger article with more info and construction photo.