Veterans read names of 92 accounted for MIA service members
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STEUBENVILLE -- In commemoration of National POW/MIA Recognition Day, veterans read the names of 92 missing-in-action U.S. service members who have been accounted for and repatriated for burial during the last year.
Organized by veterans' associations AMVETS Post 275 and Combat Veterans Support Group Chapter 1, the ceremony included the reading of each individual's name, rank, service branch, war served during, place of recovery and date accounted for. Names were taken from a working list kept by the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency, and a bell was rung intermittently during the reading.
"Keep in mind that these veterans were only known to God prior to this year," said AMVETS Post Commander Dan Wilson, who led the ceremony. "I hope that they find peace and their families find peace."
The ceremony continued an approximately 10-year tradition of the veterans' associations of honoring prisoners of war and missing-in-action service members by reading the names of the repatriated. Each year, Wilson said, the veterans pick up where they left off reading the list of those newly accounted for -- dates of those accounted for stretched from August 2022 to August of this year.
The Rev. Mike Bongart, who played taps during the ceremony, said afterward, "I feel like we have a responsibility to remember those who are still missing in action. It's great that when we find out these names, we know that the families who are involved (have) closure.
"It's a way of reminding the people in our country that freedom is not free and that our country cares for our veterans, and that they are not forgotten. We serve to remind them that for our nation and our community, they are not forgotten."
Having the ability to read the names of repatriated MIA service members comes through the efforts of the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency, which is part of the Department of Defense. The agency is dedicated to recovering U.S. military personnel listed as MIA or POW from international conflicts.
The DPAA says on its website, "At present, more than 81,500 Americans remain missing from World War II, the Korean War, the Vietnam War, the Cold War and the Gulf Wars and other conflicts. Out of the more than 81,500 missing, 75 percent of the losses are located in the Indo-Pacific, and more than 41,000 of the missing are presumed lost at sea."
The DPAA catalogues on its website those who have been accounted for, providing a small biography detailing the individual's personal background, circumstances of their becoming MIA and details about their recovery.
Bongart, a former Army combat assault helicopter pilot, said the DPAA goes through "a tremendous expense and effort … trying to account for everybody."
Matz Malone, AMVETS member and Air Force veteran, noted the large number of individuals accounted for in Romania this year, in contrast to last year's heavy representation from Pearl Harbor.
"Can you imagine the loved ones who are still alive, when they receive word that their loved one has been found and then brought home?" asked Marine Corps veteran Jack Ernest.
Ernest, who served in Vietnam from 1966-1967, described his own experience as part of a10-man group of veterans who returned to Vietnam in 1989 on a humanitarian visit with Emmy Award-winning war correspondent Morley Safer.
"When we went into the different villages, we actually had some of the villagers come and bring us remains (of U.S. service members)," said Ernest, who had been trained in the Vietnamese language and ultimately returned 44 times. "I think we were the first ones to return some remains to the United States.
"I can remember one Vietnamese guy coming up to me and telling me, 'We have a G.I.' One of the ones, a pilot, still had a parachute strapped on to the remains in a tree."
Wilson said the ceremony used to take place at the flagpoles in Fort Steuben Park, but has been moved to the Veterans Service Center at the Jefferson County Tower building.
President Jimmy Carter instituted POW/MIA Recognition Day in 1979. Wilson said the charters of various veterans' organizations require honoring the day -- always the third Friday of September -- in some way, and this is how the support group and AMVETS choose to do it.
The support group, Bongart said, is focused on all combat veterans, helping them financially and personally by meeting every Wednesday.
"It helps to be around folks who ... have similar experiences," Wilson said.
AMVETS, meanwhile, helps with various patriotic celebrations in the area. It has open membership for any honorably discharged veteran.