Identification of selected item using Menu2

I am using the Menu2 item to programatically create a menu.  However I am having issues picking up which item has been selected.

Here is my code to create the menu:

class velo_view_top_menu extends Ui.Menu2
{
	function initialize()
	{
		Ui.Menu2.initialize({:title=>"Main Menu"});
		// Add a new MenuItem to the Menu2 object
		addItem(
			new Ui.MenuItem(
			"Connection",
			"Device connections",
			"item_1",
			{}
			)
		);
		
		addItem(
			new Ui.MenuItem(
			"Settings",
			"Device settings",
			"item_2",
			{}
			)
		);
		
	}
	
}

And here is my code in the delegate:

class velo_view_top_menu_delegate extends Ui.Menu2InputDelegate {
    function initialize() {
        Menu2InputDelegate.initialize();
    }

    function onSelect(item) {
    	switch (item.getId())
    	{
    		case :item_1:
        		System.println("A");
				WatchUi.pushView(new velo_view_connection_menu(), new velo_view_connection_menu_delegate(), Ui.SLIDE_LEFT);
				break;
			case :item_2:
        		System.println("B");
				WatchUi.pushView(new velo_view_setting_menu(), new velo_view_setting_menu_delegate(), Ui.SLIDE_LEFT);
    	}
    	if (item.getId() == :item_1)
    	{
    		System.println("C");
    	}
    	if (item.getId() == "item_1")
    	{
    		System.println("D");
    	}
    	System.println("E");
        System.println(item.getId());
    }	
}

When I select the first item, this is the output I get:

E
item_1

So neither the select, if statement with symbol, or if statement with string work.  What am I doing wrong?