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Leaders Pledge Support to Bring Missing
Servicemembers Home
(September 20, 2008) |
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| WASHINGTON, Sept. 19, 2008 – On a small
parade field at the steps of the Pentagon and across the
river from the skyline of the nation's capital, top military
and political leaders today pledged to continue looking for
missing servicemembers no matter the cost.
Marine Gen. James E. Cartwright, vice chairman of the Joint
Chiefs of Staff, shakes hands with Doris Jones of American
Legion Post 70 at the Armed Forces Retirement Home,
Washington, D.C. at the National POW/MIA Recognition Day
ceremony at the Pentagon, Sept. 19, 2008. Defense Dept.
photo by Fred W. Baker III
(Click photo for screen-resolution image);high-resolution
image available.
“Over the past 230-plus years, a promise has been made to
the men and women who wear the cloth of our nation,” said
Deputy Secretary of Defense Gordon England. “However long it
takes. Whatever it takes. Whatever the cost. No American
will be left behind.
“Every effort and attempt will be made to rescue and recover
the captured and fallen and bring them home,” England said.
England joined a small group of senior DoD officials and
congressional leaders, servicemembers and civilians,
veterans and families who gathered at the river entrance on
the east side of the Pentagon for the National POW/MIA
Recognition Day ceremony.
Under partly cloudy skies, the short ceremony was packed
with troops decked out in military dress uniforms, their
chests full of glittering medals. Veterans donned their
association caps. A handful of ex-POWs dotted the crowd with
red jackets and hats poked with medals and unit insignia.
Veteran bikers sported patriotic leathers. A cool breeze
unfurled the brightly colored flags and streamers covering
the grassy parade field as a military band belted out
traditional tunes.
Marine Gen. James E. Cartwright, vice chairman of the Joint
Chiefs of Staff, told the crowd his first military memories
as a child were associated with those servicemembers still
not home from the Korean War.
More than 8,000 still are missing.
Cartwright said that in high school and college, he wore
bracelets bearing the names of those not yet home from
Vietnam. Some 1,800 servicemembers still are missing from
the Vietnam War.
So for the families of those and the other 79,000 U.S.
servicemembers still listed as missing, and to those serving
in the two wars now, the nation's second-highest-ranking
military officer offered a promise.
“We have a solemn pledge that everyone comes home,”
Cartwright said. “For families who sacrifice so much, and
give their treasures, the youth of this nation, we have a
debt to ensure that, no matter what, we will do everything
within our power to ensure that everyone comes home.”
U.S. Rep. Ike Skelton of Missouri said that those who sign
up to serve expect some hardships – tough training, time
away from families and combat. But those who are captured
and held have had to endure beyond those expectations.
“Our soldiers, sailors, airmen and Marines who have been
captured and held prisoner of war have experienced hardships
we can barely imagine and frequently even they cannot bear
to share with anyone,” Skelton said.
Skelton traveled in 1978 on a delegation to Vietnam to bring
home the remains of 14 American soldiers killed in the war
there.
“It was an experience I will never forget,” he said.
The congressman praised DoD efforts to recover and identify
those still missing, especially the efforts of the Joint
POW/MIA Accounting Command, based in Hawaii.
One of a handful of offices within the Defense Department
charged with recovering missing servicemembers, the JPAC is
based in the U.S. Pacific Command and conducts 80 percent of
its missions there. The command has 350 military and
civilian staff members. Its research and recovery teams
deploy on about 70 missions a year.
On any given day, investigative and recovery teams are
deployed in some of the most remote regions around the
world. Their work takes the teams deep into jungles and to
the tops of mountains. They work on sites for up to two
months at a time, taking on inhospitable living conditions,
rough weather, poisonous snakes and insects and unexploded
ordnance. Nine Americans have died in those missions.
“It's impossible not to admire the skill, dedication and
professionalism of those who work to bring our
servicemembers home to their families,” Skelton said.
Skelton pledged continued support for the DoD's efforts to
recover and identify missing servicemembers to “ensure our
nation never forgets.”
The congressman said nothing can repay the servicemembers
and their families for their sacrifices.
But, “as a nation, we can and we must thank them for their
willingness to pay the price required to ensure the nation's
freedoms,” he said. | |
By Fred W. Baker III
American Forces Press Service
Copyright 2008
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