September 20 is National POW/MIA Recognition Day. Overland-St. Ann Memorial Post 3944, Veterans of Foreign Wars of the United States, is honored to salute the men and women who served and sacrificed to keep America free and to recognize the families of the missing, who continue to hope and pray that their loved ones will one day return home from their wars.
We remind Americans and the world that our nation will never rest until our lost Americans return from all her battlefields. Although the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency has made significant progress in repatriating those left behind from past American wars, there is still much to do: There still are nearly 72,300 unaccounted for from World War II, more than 7,500 missing in Korea; more than 1,700 Americans missing from the Vietnam and Cold Wars, and six missing from operations in Iraq and the Persian Gulf.
That’s more than 81,500 military and civilian men and women, mothers and fathers, brothers and sisters, and sons and daughters who have yet to return home. A number so large that it exceeds the population of many small towns in America.
Now, add to that number their surviving parents, spouses, brothers, sisters, sons, and daughters, and you have a huge population of fellow Americans who continue to grieve in silence every day. While the wars and conflicts we waged may have ended; theirs, sadly, has not.
We cannot walk in their shoes, but we can reassure them that veterans organizations like the Veterans of Foreign Wars will NEVER rest until our nation has achieved the fullest possible accounting of all of our missing.
It is our combined persistence in seeking answers that has increased public awareness for this humanitarian issue and kept alive the memory of our missing servicemembers and prisoners of war. It is only because of these organizations; our combined members and supporters, and our combined grassroots efforts in pressuring the government for full accounting that there has been substantial progress in the government keeping its promise of “leaving no one behind.” Their and our continued success in bringing our missing heroes home demands attention, cooperation, and communication.
Acknowledging the significance of National POW/MIA Recognition Day helps provide solace to the anguished parents, spouses, and children who are still waiting for their loved ones to return from the battlefield. It offers hope to the families of the missing and encouragement that the next remains to be identified will be their family member.
We remind the world that we will never rest until our government fulfills its promise of returning the missing from the battlefield to a place of honor at home.
It’s true that the costs of war extend far beyond the last shot fired, and for the families of our missing, the passage of time does not heal their wounds. For them, the days became weeks, and the weeks became months, then years, and now, sadly, decades.
We cannot imagine the daily loss we would feel if our mother or father had gone to war and didn’t return. We cannot imagine reliving the moment the government couldn’t tell if our brother or sister was alive or dead. And we cannot imagine our emotions if that missing person was our son or daughter.
This is what our POW and MIA families live with, day in and day out. They want answers to questions where there may be none or are slow in coming.
They are not asking unreasonable questions, nor do the families have different agendas. All they want to know is what happened to their loved one. That is not too much for them to ask, and that is not too much for our government to answer, or for other governments to help us answer.
Our nation owes a lasting debt of gratitude to all those selfless and heroic members of our armed forces who have risked their own freedom and safety to defend the lives and liberty of others.
However, we must remember in a special way those Americans who remain unaccounted for from all our nation’s wars and conflicts. We must never forget the sacrifice of those many noble American service members who answered the call to serve their country in time of need, but who never returned to their loved ones.
America performs humanitarian missions all around this world, yet the full accounting mission is the only humanitarian mission our government performs solely for the benefit of fellow Americans.
Throughout the year, the joint task force is at work in southeast Asia trying their best to account for the missing. It is painstaking work; pick and shovel work, on mountainsides and in remote jungle clearings, and it depends so much on the willing cooperation of the nations we work alongside. But while their work is extremely difficult and dangerous, they perform each investigation and recovery operation with a solemn pledge to return a fellow American home to a waiting family.
The Veterans of Foreign Wars stands beside these families who continue to burn that candle of hope, and we’re the only veterans’ service organization whose leaders, since 1991, have made an annual visit to Southeast Asia to meet with U.S. and host government officials to discuss and stress the importance of the full accounting mission.
Within the Veterans of Foreign Wars and other veterans organizations, we cannot talk about military strength and the heroic sacrifice of those who have fought for freedom without our thoughts turning to the POW/MIA issue. We must remain committed to the fullest possible accounting of those Americans who are still missing, and likewise we are fully committed to playing a leadership role on behalf of our POW/MIAs and their families.
People who put others before themselves is the story of America, the America that rose to greatness on the shoulders of ordinary citizens who refused to shirk the responsibility of citizenship; some of whom paid the highest price to preserve peace and freedom for others to enjoy.
America has risen to greatness on the shoulders of ordinary citizens who refused to skirt the responsibility of citizenship and who selflessly paid the highest price to preserve peace and freedom.
They didn’t serve for fame or glory, and they certainly don’t do it for the money. They marched on because the people in front, behind, and to their flanks continued to march. They marched on because they know they have each other’s back.
The full accounting mission is a promise to those who serve that we, your grateful nation, has your back, too. So today, let us remember those who put country before self and did not return home to their families. Let us remember the families of the missing who continue to burn the candle of hope.
And let us continue to tell America the story that without the service and sacrifice of the American serviceman and servicewoman, there would be no United States of America.
