News-Info-Alerts

Re: Ceremony for National POW-MIA Recognition Day

To: ALL

From: Andi Wolos & Bob Necci

(POW-MIA InterNetwork)

Date: September 21, 2002

"CEREMONY TO HONOR PRISONERS OF WAR AND MISSING IN ACTION

By DEAN BAKER, Columbian staff writer

Prisoners of war and soldiers missing in action will be honored for the third year in a row at a public ceremony at Vancouver Barracks on Saturday.

    The Vancouver event, celebrated the day after National POW/MIA Recognition Day, will be the public debut of a new organization, the year-old Southwest Washington Veterans Memorial Museum.

    The ceremony from 9 a.m. to noon will feature the 104th Infantry Regiment Army Reserve Band, the 100-voice Eleanor Roosevelt Elementary School Ambassador Choir, howitzers, prayers, marching groups and speeches by dignitaries.

    It will be capped off with a free salmon feed sponsored by the Northwest Indian Veterans Association.

    Tours of a modern field hospital will be offered at the event, say the three veterans promoting the museum: Sam Jones, Tim Smith and Michael Skillern.

    A Vietnam veteran, Smith said he, Skillern and Jones joined with about 30 other vets to form a core group of backers for a museum. Although they've obtained nonprofit status for the museum, they haven't raised money yet.

    "We're hoping to acquire a building," said Jones, a collector of military artifacts and the military adviser to the group.

    "We trying to be a living history museum," said Smith, president of the museum board. "We want not just displays. We want to work with individuals. So when someone donates a uniform to us, we want a photo of him. We want to know what he's done. For the school kids, we want to put a face to this uniform."

    They were spurred to action when they discovered that schools spend little time teaching students about the history of World War II, Korea and Vietnam, said Smith.

    "So we decided let's get out on Veterans Day and Memorial Day and show these kids," Smith said.

    Eventually, they would like to acquire a 45-foot van, fill it with war artifacts and take it to area schools.

    "We want to show why we went to war," said Smith. "Like in Hiroshima, why did we drop the bomb?"

    "Military history has become a casualty of politically correct teaching," he said, "but the past belongs to everyone. The study of weapons, tactics, strategy and personal human sacrifice is a record that must be preserved, so future generations will understand the reasoning of that particular time."

    Museum backers hope that veterans or active duty military personnel will wear uniforms, new or old, to the event and that the public will bring in old or worn flags for proper disposal.

    "We also accept new flags that we can donate around the community," Smith said. "We intend to educate those that wish to understand the role of military units, individuals, and the reasons there were conflicts," he said. "People want to know who fought and why."

   

    For more information, visit

    www.sww veteransmemorial museum.com

   

    AMERICA'S HEROES

    * WHAT: POW/MIA Recognition Ceremony

    * WHEN: 9 a.m. to noon Saturday

    (See back page for schedule of events)

    * WHERE: Vancouver Barracks War Memorial flag pole

   

   POW/MIA RECOGNITION CEREMONY

   The program for Saturday's events at Vancouver Barracks War Memorial flag pole:

    9 a.m.: Band concert

    10 a.m.: Introduction by Tim Smith

    * Opening by U.S. Army Col. (retired) Jonathon E. Fredrick

    * Posting of colors by Southwest Washington Honor Guard

    * National Anthem, Pledge of Allegiance

    * Invocation

    * City proclamation

    * "God Bless America" and "My Country 'tis of Thee" by the Eleanor Roosevelt Elementary School Ambassador Choir

    * Speech by Maj. Gen. Jon Root, commander, 104th Infantry Regiment, U.S. Army Reserve

    * "Battle Hymn of the Republic" by choir

    * Speech by Maurice Sharp, national commander elect of the American Ex-Prisoners of War

    * "Let Freedom Ring" by choir

    * Placing of a wreath on the Clark County Veterans Monument

    * 21-gun salute by U.S. Army howitzers

    * "Taps"

    * "Amazing Grace" by Fort Vancouver Bagpipe band

    * "In Flanders Field" by choir

    * Closing Remarks

    * Benediction

    * Free warrior salvo

Copyright © 2002 by The Columbian Publishing Co."