POW/MIA day provides time to reflect, thank

  • Published
  • By Michael Briggs
  • 12th Flying Training Wing Public Affairs
RANDOLPH AIR FORCE BASE, Texas (AFPN) --  “However long it takes, wherever it takes us, whatever the cost.”

Those words reflect the pledge of the more than 600 people who work every day to locate and identify 88,000 American servicemembers still missing from World War II through today.

They are also apt words to describe the theme of the annual observance of the National Prisoner of War/Missing in Action Recognition Day that takes place Sept. 14.

Usually held the third Friday in September, the observance takes place earlier in the week this year out of respect for Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year holiday that runs from Sept. 15 to 17, according to information from the Department of Defense Prisoner of War/Missing Personnel Office that oversees the accounting of POWs and MIAs at the national level.

Of the 600 people worldwide whose mission it is to account for missing servicemembers, 10 work here in the Air Force missing persons branch at the Air Force Personnel Center.

The 10 are responsible for overseeing the Air Force POW/MIA program that seeks an accounting for the more than 1,600 Airmen missing from the Korean War, Cold War and Vietnam War, said James Russell, branch chief.

“Among all the other agencies working accounting issues, our role is to serve as the liaison to the families of Air Force members,” he said. “When we have new information relative to a case, our job is to pass that information on to the family, to discuss it with them and to help them understand what the agency is doing on their behalf.”

The branch corresponds on a regular basis with about 3,000 family members of unaccounted-for Airmen, he said.

Once a month at regional meetings around the United States and twice a year at national gatherings in Washington, for Korean War and Vietnam War POWs and MIAs, the branch staff provides in-person updates to family members. The meetings provide general information about ongoing recovery operations, as well as case-specific details about each family’s missing servicemember, Mr. Russell said.

POW/MIA Recognition Day helps support America’s personnel accounting efforts in several ways, he said.

“First, it is a day of reverence and reflection for the people who never came home in making the ultimate sacrifice for their nation,” Mr. Russell said. “It’s also a time to thank the POWs and MIAs who did return.”

Secondly, the observance lets those in uniform today know of their nation’s resolve, he added.

“It sends a message to our current-day Airmen, Soldiers, Sailors and Marines that we are not going to forget them,” Mr. Russell said. “We, as a nation, will do everything in our power to bring them home.”

The missing persons program, with 14 recovery operations and field activities scheduled in 2004, provides closure for several families each year. So far this year, the remains of 12 Airmen have been identified. The past three years, 31 members were identified and returned to their families.

For more information about the branch and its operations, people can visit the Web at www.afpc.randolph.af.mil/powmia/. For details about the POW/MIA program at the national level, the Web site for the Department of Defense/Missing Personnel Office is www.dtic.mil/dpmo. (Courtesy of Air Education and Training Command News Service)