News-Info-Alerts

Re: Saluting the Sacrifice

From: POW-MIA InterNetwork

Date: September 18, 2003

"Freedom's price still painful

RECOGNITION DAY: Two Inland ceremonies will salute the sacrifices of POWs and MIAs.

By JOE VARGO and MICHAEL FISHER / The Press-Enterprise

Nearly four decades have passed since Nina McCoy's father was killed in Vietnam, but the pain and loss persist.

What bothers her most, the 49-year-old Fontana woman says, is that she feels cheated. She never got to know her dad, Sgt. 1st Class John L. McCoy, who spent four years as a prisoner in World War II, was decorated for valor in Korea and died in a firefight in the Vietnam War.

"I want people to understand that our freedom is not a birthright just because you're an American," McCoy said. "Men have given their lives, their youth, their innocence to ensure it. Children grew up without their dads."

Today, as Americans gather across the United States for National Prisoner of War/Missing in Action Recognition Day, this year's ceremonies are expected to resonate with greater symbolism and emotion.

U.S. troops remain in harm's way in Iraq and Afghanistan. Images of a rescued former POW Jessica Lynch clutching her comrades' hands remain fresh in the minds of Americans, along with earlier Iraqi television broadcasts showing five battered POWs and the bodies of four dead servicemen.

'We're survivors'

To Richard Bullard, a longtime Lake Elsinore veteran whose brother, William, was killed in Vietnam, it is vital that Americans remember those who were lost.

William Bullard's A-4 Skyhawk crashed in August 1966 shortly after takeoff from the USS Oriskany -- the same ship where Richard Bullard was serving with a different squadron. William Bullard, a one-time student body president at Elsinore High School, was never found.

"One of the guys in our work, his brother was killed in Korea. I told him I stood in his shoes in 1966," Richard Bullard, now of Marysville, said by telephone. "Things happen in peacetime and in war."

To those whose lives relied on the decisions of their enemy, POW/MIA Day serves as a reminder that freedom is anything but free.

"It's important to keep the public aware the world is not at peace" said Robert Ellsworth of Riverside, who spent 10 months in a German stalag after his B-17 bomber was shot down during World War II.

"We don't profess to be heroes. We're survivors," Ellsworth, 81, said by phone. "There is a strong camaraderie between POW survivors. It doesn't make a difference what war you were in or what your age is."

Memories of home

John McCoy's daughter NiÄna carries snippets of memories of her father. John McCoy working on his white 1958 Buick at the family's New Jersey home. A quiet man with a need to keep busy. The last time she saw her dad, then an Army Ranger, when he left for war in 1964.

She spent 11 years tracking down information on her father, interviewing two officers who served with him in Vietnam.

Born in Los Angeles in 1925, John McCoy tried to enlist at 16 but was too young. So he moved to Canada and joined the Winnipeg Grenadiers, who were shipped off to Hong Kong. He was captured on Christmas Day 1941 and endured nearly four years of torture, humiliation and starvation. Prisoners survived on sweet potatoes, carrot tops, pumpkin vines and rice.

Twice, John McCoy was placed before firing squads only to be spared. He was liberated in 1945 and testified at the war crimes trial of a sadistic guard.

During the Korean War, he served with the 23rd Raiders, conducting reconnaissance patrols and ambushes on strategic hills in no-man's land.

He again volunteered for duty in Vietnam. On Sept. 26, 1964, McCoy was engaged in a firefight in a rice paddy when he yelled to a buddy to keep his head down. Seconds later, a sniper killed John McCoy with a shot to the head. He was 39.
McCoy's service record includes three Silver Stars for gallantry, two Bronze Stars for valor, two Purple Hearts and numerous campaign ribbons from the U.S., Canada and Vietnam.

He was inducted into the Army Ranger Hall of Fame at Fort Benning, Ga., in 1999. In March, Nina McCoy visited the spot where her dad died and offered prayers in his honor.

She continues to honor her father, telling his story to veterans groups. She is the keynote speaker at a POW/MIA Day ceremony Saturday, sponsored by Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 4379 in Winchester.

Larry Stroud, the event's organizer, said the ceremony will emphasize Korean War prisoners because this year is the 50th anniversary of that conflict's end.
The fight is never over

Arthur Exon, who spent 374 days in German stalags in World War II, is lukewarm toward today's ceremonies. But the retired Air Force brigadier general concedes that some appreciate the honor, which underscores the dangers of duty.

"The fight for freedom is never over. I think the new people in Iraq are there for a good purpose and 99 percent of them feel the same way," Exon, who lives in Air Force Village West near Moreno Valley, said by phone.

Exon had completed more than 100 combat flights when his P-47 caught fire after he strafed an ammunition dump in western Italy. While captured, he stayed fit, exercising and organizing athletic classes and walking programs with fellow prisoners to keep their minds off their plight.

"That was the objective," he said. "We had some people who never got out of the bed all day long, except to eat or take a shower. Those people were sure we were going to be suited up to meet the firing squad."

Ellsworth, the Riversider who also was a German prisoner, said a POW's survival was based in determination and faith.

"You have to believe in your fellow man and believe in God," Ellsworth said. "You had to grit your teeth and take what you were faced with. You didn't give in."

Reach Joe Vargo at (909) 375-3730 or jvargo@pe.com
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