Cold War Veterans Blog

STILL MISSING

http://www.sunherald.com/201/story/147875.html

MIAs honored
Biloxi VA remembers the empty chair
By LEIGH COLEMAN
SUN HERALD

JOHN FITZHUGH/SUN HERALD
A POW/MIA flag is draped on a chair Friday during the POW/MIA Recognition Day ceremony in the chapel at the Department of Veterans Affairs Gulf Coast Veterans Health Care System in Biloxi.
POW-MIA ceremony (Sept. 22)


BILOXI --The place cards and programs read, "The chair is empty for they are not here."

The Biloxi VA Gulf Coast Veterans Health Care System on Friday hosted a POW/MIA ceremony and reception. They wanted the words to serve as a reminder of the sacrifices made by American prisoners of war and those still missing in action.

The event was held for National POW/MIA Recognition Day, which is held annually on the third Friday of September.

Veterans, VA staff members and volunteers, and family members of those missing in action gathered.

The Biloxi VA traditionally holds a POW/MIA recognition day twice a year. The POWs are the focus during a spring recognition ceremony. The MIAs were the focus of Friday's service.

During the ceremony, Chaplain Gary Morris presented a solemn symbolic biographical sketch of several local MIAs from the Vietnam era titled, "Do You Remember Me?"

"For the last several years it has been my honor to share the stories of Vietnam veterans who are from our area but never returned home," said Morris.

The audience listened to the stories about MIAs Timothy Samuel Owen of Mobile, last seen during a night ambush in South Vietnam in 1968; Curtis Richard Smoot of Bogalusa, La., last seen flying a reconnaissance mission over Colombia in 1971; and Thomas W. Bennet Jr. of Natchez, who disappeared during a bombing mission over Hanoi, North Vietnam, then was captured as a POW but never released and is classified as missing in action.

"We have come to these recognition ceremonies for a number of years and it is good that we are all appreciated as soldiers," said WWII POW Sidney Hecker.

"I fought in the Battle of the Bulge and the not-so-well-known and controversial Battle of Huertgen Forest. That battle was controversial because so many units were wiped out and there was not many prospects for victory," he said.

According the the Joint POW/MIA Accounting Command, one American is still missing from the Gulf War, more than 1,750 from the Vietnam War, 120, from the Cold War, more than 8,100 from the Korean War and more than 78,000 from WWII.

POW-MIA ceremony (Sept. 22)

Gulf War 1
Vietnam War 1,750+
Cold War 120
Korean War 8,100+
World War II 78,000+
- POW/MIA ACCOUNTING COMMAND