Punchbowl Crater was formed some 75,000 to 100,000 years ago during the Honolulu period of secondary volcanic activity.

A crater resulted from the ejection of hot lava through cracks in the old coral reefs which, at the time, extended to the foot of the Ko'olau Mountain Range.

Later, during the reign of Kamehameha the Great, a battery of two cannons was mounted at the rim of the crater to salute distinguished arrivals and signify important occasions.

Early in the 1880s, leasehold land on the slopes of the Punchbowl opened for settlement and in the 1930s, the crater was used as a rifle range for the Hawaii National Guard.

During the late 1890s, a committee recommended that the Punchbowl become the site for a new cemetery to accommodate the growing population of Honolulu.

Fifty years later, Congress authorized a small appropriation to establish a national cemetery in Honolulu with two provisions: that the location be acceptable to the War Department, and that the site would be donated rather than purchased.

Prior to the opening of the cemetery for the recently deceased, the remains of soldiers from locations around the Pacific Theater—including Guam, Wake Island, and Japanese POW camps—were transported to Hawaii for final interment.

The carillon is nicknamed "Coronation" and was funded in part by the Pacific War Memorial Commission and individual contributions.

The goal was to make the cemetery worth visiting for both tourists and local as well as highly advanced for the members and officers of the military.

The design-build project of this national cemetery consisted of many improvements both inside and outside including construction of the Memorial Wall, replacement of columbarium caps at courts 1–5 inside the cemetery, demolishing the existing Administration and PIC building, construction of Columbarium Court 13, which included 6,860 columbarium niches, repair of existing roadways, and replacement of existing signage, followed by site furnishing, landscaping, irrigation, and site utilities and achieving a LEED silver rating by the US Green Building Council.

During the Civil War, the U.S. government feared for the sanctity of the graves of fallen Union soldiers and issued General Orders No.

33, of April 3, 1862, Moving to give federal protection to Union grave sites pushing The Act of July 17, 1862, which gave the President the authority, “whenever in his opinion it shall be expedient, to purchase cemetery grounds and cause them to be securely enclosed, to be used as a national cemetery for the soldiers who shall die in the service of the country.

To further protect the sites of fallen heroes congress approves of the "Reburial Program" on April 13, 1866, stating the Secretary of War is hereby authorized and required to take immediate measures to preserve the graves of soldiers of the United States who fell in battle and secure suitable burial places in which they may be properly interred; and to have the grounds enclosed, so that the resting-places of the honored dead may be kept sacred forever followed on February 22, 1867, with an “Act to establish and to protect National Cemeteries.” This was followed on July 1, 1870, by an Act of Congress authorizing the United States to take title to any national cemeteries where the States had given their consent, and on May 18, 1872, by an Act authorizing the Secretary of War to appoint superintendents.

After their retreat in 1950, dead soldiers and Marines were buried at a temporary military cemetery near Hungnam, North Korea.

In addition 546 civilians who died in United Nations prisoner of war camps were turned over to the South Korean Government.

[17] On December 17, 2022, at 12:00 pm, the Women's Marines Association HI-2 Wahine Koa Chapter will be helping the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific (Punchbowl) to Remember and Honor our veterans by laying Remembrance wreaths on the graves of our country's fallen heroes.