Fargo honors POWs
Associated Press
FARGO, N.D. - Residents here honored former prisoners of war from the region as part of a national ceremony.
Several of the 28 former POWs recognized Sunday are no longer living. Each was recognized with a place setting that had the man's photo, a rose and a chair tilted forward.
It was the first time a local ceremony recognized National Former Prisoner of War Recognition Day, held each year on April 9.
The date also commemorates the April 9, 1942, Bataan Death March, when about 75,000 Filipino and U.S. soldiers surrendered to the Japanese. It is the date during World War II that the most Americans were captured.
Lyle Wells, the event organizer and chairman of the POW/MIA Public Awareness Project, said POWs are the country's bravest heroes.
"A lot of people take their freedom for granted," Wells said. "These people definitely know what the price of freedom is."
The event was dedicated to Clarence Larson, Fergus Falls, Minn., and Ben Steele, Billings, Mont., survivors of the Bataan Death March who each spent at least three years as POWs.
Three generations of Herald Tastad's family attended the ceremony to honor him. The Mayville, World War II veteran spent 27 months as a POW after being captured by Germans in North Africa.
Like many of the other former POWs, Tastad, 86, doesn't consider himself a hero.
"I was just doing the duty for my country," he said.
Mike Haugen, adjutant general of the North Dakota National Guard, thanked the former POWs for making freedom possible.
"It's a great honor to be here in the same room as all of you and your families," Haugen said "Your families served as well."
Wells wants to have a local ceremony every year on April 9 to recognize POWs who survived. There have been local ceremonies held in September for National POW/MIA Recognition Day, which focuses on POWs who died during the war, Wells said.