Sept. 17 is national POW-MIA Recognition Day
Posted: Wed Aug 25, 2010 9:40 am
Great editorial!
http://examiner.gmnews.com/news/2010-08 ... n_Day.html
Sept. 17 is national POW-MIA Recognition Day
Along with my fellow veterans, we’ll be teaching lessons in the Upper Freehold, Jackson and Millstone Township elementary and middle schools about the meaning behind the National League of Families Prisoners of War Missing In Action (POW-MIA) flag — the only flag other than “old glory” to be recognized by U.S. Congress and be placed on display in the U.S. capital rotunda.
No doubt, many readers of this newspaper have had their own fourth-graders “teach” them about the POW-MIA flag. If not, it’s not too late to learn. How many readers have taken just two to three minutes time-out to stand and closely look over the black POW-MIA flag flying beneath the U.S. flag at a nearby post office, police station, fire house, school or town veterans memorial?
New Jersey is a pretty patriotic state. Many of our schools display the POW-MIA flag every day outside just beneath the U.S. flag. Millstone Township introduced a proclamation to fly the POW-MIA flag 24/7 at its municipal building. In addition to the many thousands of MIAs from WWII, Korea, Vietnam, we remember there are two U.S. soldiers who are listed as captured/ MIA from the Iraq and Afghanistan wars.
It’s a federal law to display the POWMIA flag on government buildings, veterans administration offices, veterans administration hospitals, veterans cemeteries and post offices on certain specified days — POW-MIA Recognition Day (the third Friday in September each year), Armed Forces Day, Memorial Day, Flag Day, Independence Day and Veteran’s Day.
There’s finality in seeing a loved one buried that can’t be achieved merely by reading a U.S. Department of Defense casualty report of a plane shot down and the pilot (family member) missing and presumed dead, or of a soldier or marine captured and held as a prisoner of war but never returned. We’ve been taught that every story has a beginning and an end. For many Americans though the story of their loved one who served in the military in a war somewhere overseas has no ending. This year’s POW-MIA Recognition Day poster (www.dtic.mil/dpmo/pow_day/images/ pow_mia_poster_2010.png) is a graphic reminder of why all Americans should respect the words written on the POW-MIA flag: “You are Not Forgotten.” As a veteran, I support the efforts of the mothers, fathers, sisters, brothers wives, sons and daughters of America’s MIAs who didn’t come home to learn of their fate and to have our government strive for the fullest possible accounting of America’s MIAs from all wars. Our U.S. Joint POW-MIA Accounting Command (JPAC) teams continue the search. But, we need to keep pressure on the governments of Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia, Russia and Korea to cooperate. A grassroots effort and show of concern across America is key to gaining and keeping those foreign governments support in allowing our JPAC teams to search, and in assisting them to locate and recover America’s MIAs.
Everyone is affected by or loses something in a war. For most of us, war does have a beginning and an end. For military veterans with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI), severe illness, trauma or loss of limbs, we can never fully put these wounds or the memory of war behind us. But, we can and do receive treatment and long term care. But then, how can we treat the immediate and extended family members of a U.S. soldier, sailor, airman or marine who’s listed as MIA and who wasn’t brought home? I think this is a case where “love thy neighbor” is the only therapy we can offer until the cure is found.
Please pause a moment on Sept. 17 to recognize America’s POW-MIAs. Fly the POW-MIA flag. Our MIA soldiers, sailors, airman and marines are not forgotten. Nor are their families. If you’d like to show your support for the families of America’s MIAs, contact your local military veterans organization or the National League of Families at POW-MIAfamilies.org.
Richard D. Brody
State Commander
VVnW and the Veterans Coalition
Chairman
Millstone Township Veterans Memorial
Council
Millstone
http://examiner.gmnews.com/news/2010-08 ... n_Day.html
Sept. 17 is national POW-MIA Recognition Day
Along with my fellow veterans, we’ll be teaching lessons in the Upper Freehold, Jackson and Millstone Township elementary and middle schools about the meaning behind the National League of Families Prisoners of War Missing In Action (POW-MIA) flag — the only flag other than “old glory” to be recognized by U.S. Congress and be placed on display in the U.S. capital rotunda.
No doubt, many readers of this newspaper have had their own fourth-graders “teach” them about the POW-MIA flag. If not, it’s not too late to learn. How many readers have taken just two to three minutes time-out to stand and closely look over the black POW-MIA flag flying beneath the U.S. flag at a nearby post office, police station, fire house, school or town veterans memorial?
New Jersey is a pretty patriotic state. Many of our schools display the POW-MIA flag every day outside just beneath the U.S. flag. Millstone Township introduced a proclamation to fly the POW-MIA flag 24/7 at its municipal building. In addition to the many thousands of MIAs from WWII, Korea, Vietnam, we remember there are two U.S. soldiers who are listed as captured/ MIA from the Iraq and Afghanistan wars.
It’s a federal law to display the POWMIA flag on government buildings, veterans administration offices, veterans administration hospitals, veterans cemeteries and post offices on certain specified days — POW-MIA Recognition Day (the third Friday in September each year), Armed Forces Day, Memorial Day, Flag Day, Independence Day and Veteran’s Day.
There’s finality in seeing a loved one buried that can’t be achieved merely by reading a U.S. Department of Defense casualty report of a plane shot down and the pilot (family member) missing and presumed dead, or of a soldier or marine captured and held as a prisoner of war but never returned. We’ve been taught that every story has a beginning and an end. For many Americans though the story of their loved one who served in the military in a war somewhere overseas has no ending. This year’s POW-MIA Recognition Day poster (www.dtic.mil/dpmo/pow_day/images/ pow_mia_poster_2010.png) is a graphic reminder of why all Americans should respect the words written on the POW-MIA flag: “You are Not Forgotten.” As a veteran, I support the efforts of the mothers, fathers, sisters, brothers wives, sons and daughters of America’s MIAs who didn’t come home to learn of their fate and to have our government strive for the fullest possible accounting of America’s MIAs from all wars. Our U.S. Joint POW-MIA Accounting Command (JPAC) teams continue the search. But, we need to keep pressure on the governments of Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia, Russia and Korea to cooperate. A grassroots effort and show of concern across America is key to gaining and keeping those foreign governments support in allowing our JPAC teams to search, and in assisting them to locate and recover America’s MIAs.
Everyone is affected by or loses something in a war. For most of us, war does have a beginning and an end. For military veterans with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI), severe illness, trauma or loss of limbs, we can never fully put these wounds or the memory of war behind us. But, we can and do receive treatment and long term care. But then, how can we treat the immediate and extended family members of a U.S. soldier, sailor, airman or marine who’s listed as MIA and who wasn’t brought home? I think this is a case where “love thy neighbor” is the only therapy we can offer until the cure is found.
Please pause a moment on Sept. 17 to recognize America’s POW-MIAs. Fly the POW-MIA flag. Our MIA soldiers, sailors, airman and marines are not forgotten. Nor are their families. If you’d like to show your support for the families of America’s MIAs, contact your local military veterans organization or the National League of Families at POW-MIAfamilies.org.
Richard D. Brody
State Commander
VVnW and the Veterans Coalition
Chairman
Millstone Township Veterans Memorial
Council
Millstone