Cold War Veterans Blog

Rolling Thunder to present monument recognizing missing soldiers, POWs

By Dwight Dana
Morning News reporter
Published: February 6, 2009

A monument recognizing prisoners of war and soldiers missing in action will be dedicated March 7 at Florence’s new Veterans Park.

The stone is being presented by Rolling Thunder, Chapter 4, of Florence. Corbett “CB” Anderson is the president.

Rolling Thunder is a national group whose mission is to publicize POW-MIA issues. It’s a nonprofit organization and its members are volunteers.

“We want to educate the public that many American prisoners of war were left behind after all previous wars,” Anderson said. “We want to help correct the past and protect future veterans from being left behind should they become POWs or MIAs. We also want to help American veterans of all wars.”

One side of the monument reads “Never Forget” as it recognizes soldiers from World War I, World War II, Korea, the Cold War, Vietnam, Persian Gulf and Afghanistan.

The other side pictures a bald eagle with an American flag in the background. The eagle is holding dog tags in his talons, one with POW on it and the other with MIA on it.

“Chapter 4 of Rolling Thunder commissioned this stone,” Anderson said. “Our emphasis on this stone is not on us, but on POW and MIA issues. Our dedication will be in that manner.”

Anderson is a product of the draft of the 1960s. He served two years in the Army in Korea. He began as a military policeman and ended up as a dog handler on a missile site.

He said he got the idea for the monument when he heard the city of Florence was building a new veterans park.

“I felt it was the perfect time to start working on a monument, which is what we’re all about,” he said. “We want to educate the public in every way we can about MIA and POW issues.”

A year ago, Anderson went to Michael Dozier of Smurfit-Stone Container’s Latta plant to help him with the design. He went back and forth to the Rolling Thunder chapter, where members kicked ideas around and made the necessary changes.

“Everybody had to vote on it,” Anderson said. “Then we held fundraisers throughout the year. A very generous public helped us raise the money, and it’s paid for.

“The whole chapter is very proud of this. We think it’s totally awesome.”

Mike Richardson is owner of Darlington Monument Works, which has been in business since the early 1940s. Richardson ordered the stone to the specifications set forth by the Rolling Thunder chapter. The monument weighs 4,008 pounds.

“They wanted to use American stone, which is black and a little harder to find,” Richardson said. “We decided on this stone because it allows the colored etching to show up better. We found the stone in Pennsylvania.”