GUEST COLUMN
By:Andy Henkel
The third Friday in September, Sept. 15, is POW/MIA Recognition Day. 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.
To this day more the 88,000 of our service personnel from all our nation’s wars and conflicts remain unaccounted for, and their families still cling to the hope that someday they will return. Americans of all ages must remember these brave men and women.
From World War II alone, more than 78,000 Americans remain unaccounted for. From the Korean War, more than 8,200 soldiers are still officially listed as missing, including 389 who were at one time listed as prisoners of war.
In Southeast Asia, 2,031 are listed as unaccounted-for. More than 100 Americans are still missing from the Cold War.
Our veterans organizations, lead by the Veterans of Foreign Wars and American Legion continue to strive for the full accounting of our missing military personnel.
But the veterans cannot do it alone. All Americans should continue to contact your legislators to continue to put pressure on the governments of Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia, Korea and other countries where World War II battlefields and Cold War losses are suspected to continue the search and recovery processes of our POWs and MIAs.
Andy Henkel, a Hillsborough resident, is a member of Thomas J. Kavanaugh Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 2290 in Manville.