By SABRINA SHANKMAN Staff Writer
TAUNTON - Two of the veterans paused in front of the Vietnam Memorial before the annual POW/MIA remembrance ceremony yesterday to read the 13 names of Taunton men killed in the Vietnam War.
The Taunton men were not listed as POWs or MIAs.
Regardless, 40 Vietnam servicemen from Massachusetts listed as prisoners of war or missing in action were honored yesterday.
"You never forget," said Richard Pimental, a member of the Taunton Area Vietnam Veterans Association who said he remembers many of the men whose names are on the memorial. "That's why we're here. Each one of us have memories of the heroes on this wall. They're forever young."
Pimental and other members of the Taunton Area Vietnam Veterans Association gathered at the memorial on Church Green along with city and state officials and residents to remember the 40 men from the Bay State - and 1,807 nationwide - who are still prisoners of war or missing in action in southeast Asia.
"This ceremony is your way of keeping this POW/MIA issue alive in the city of Taunton and I commend you for that," Mayor Robert G. Nunes said to the group of about 50 people there for the event. "We must never forget the soldiers who did not return home."
Former Mayor Richard Johnson declared in 1983 that the last Sunday of March would be Taunton POW/MIA Day, and since then veterans and officials have gathered to read the names of those still missing.
State Sen. Marc R. Pacheco said he has been at each of the 23 ceremonies, despite the history of bad weather, which some of the veterans said has traditionally been rainy or snowy on the day of the remembrance. Despite gray clouds, Sunday's weather stayed clear for the ceremony.
"We will continue to be here each and every year as long as we have members of our community and our nation that are still unaccounted for," Pacheco.
State Rep. James Fagan said that without the presence of the veterans who continue to make the issue of POW/MIAs known, the problem could be forgotten.
City Councilor Charles Crowley said that is exactly why the ceremony is so important.
"Freedom is not free," he said. "There's a certain responsibility that comes with freedom and liberty," and for the veterans, he said, that responsibility to continue to educate people about the need to find those POW/MIAs who are still unaccounted for.
Dennis Proulx, a member of the Taunton Area Vietnam Veterans Association who led the event, agreed.
"Why do we do this? Maybe it's because we came back and they didn't," he said. "Whether or not there are still some alive over there we don't know. One that that we know for sure is that their remains are still over there and we have to bring them home."
©The Taunton GazetteÊ2006