Published: September 18, 2009 08:08 am      

POW/MIA

Remember those who gave all they had to give

Among the first American Prisoners of War were the 11,500 men who died on British prison ships during the Revolutionary War. They are buried in a mass grave in Brooklyn.

Countless others have been prisoner during wartime — several of them still live in our area — and an estimated 1 million others are still listed in Missing in Action.

Members of Cumberland Chapter 172 of the Vietnam Veterans of America are among those who haven’t forgotten our POWs and MIAs. They have asked that we join them today in remembering these men and women.

The third Friday in September has been designated as the annual POW/MIA Recognition Day by Congress.

One of the most recent MIAs to be identified and repatriated was Navy Capt. Michael Scott Speicher, whose airplane was shot down in January 1991 during the first Gulf War.

Earlier this week, the remains of an unknown soldier who died at the Sept. 17, 1862, Civil War battle of Antietam at Sharpsburg were returned to New York state, where on Thursday he received a long-overdue burial with full military honors that included a 21-gun salute.

His bones and uniform fragments that identified him as a New York soldier were discovered by a hiker last October. He was among 23,000 who were killed, wounded or declared missing on what remainsthe bloodiest day in American history.

Like the Unknown Soldiers who rest at Arlington National Cemetery, it is unlikely that his identity will ever be known. This makes him an appropriate representative for all those others of whom it could be said, “All Gave Some, Some Gave All.”

We join the VVA chapter in asking that you display a flag or wearing a pin, shirt or some other symbol that bears the image of the POW/MIA flag ... not just today, but every day.