Garrison Command Sgt. Maj. Dylan Lemasters said Sept. 28 that POW-MIA Recognition Day ceremonies are an opportunity to show “we are and will remain relentless in our promise, commitment and dedication” to bring home more than 81,000 service members still missing and unaccounted for.
“This is a mission that is of the highest priority,” Lemasters said
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at the seventh annual POW-MIA event at the Huntsville/Madison County Veterans Memorial in downtown Huntsville. “It is America’s Soldiers’ and citizens’ sacred duty. We will execute this commitment no matter how long it takes.”
The ceremony was organized by the Vietnam Vets Legacy Vets Motorcycle Club Alabama. Mike Taheny, a member of the group, said the ceremony is held each year to recognize, remember and celebrate service members who are unaccounted for.
“We may not know them, but we owe them,” he said.
Lemasters noted that the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency disinterred eight caskets containing possible unaccounted for missing personnel from the Korean War, and the caskets were transferred to DPAA facilities for further scientific analysis and possible identification. A disinterment ceremony was held at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific in Honolulu, Hawaii, on Sept. 23.
“My point is, actions speak louder than words and, as a nation, we are taking action. We’ll never forget, and we will fulfill our nation’s promise until they’re home.”
During his remarks, Lemasters shared the story of a POW who he believes reinforces “our resolve and why it is important to recognize the significance of today.”
A product of the High-Risk Survival, Evasion, Resistance and Escape training program, Lemasters talked about Col. James Nicholas “Nick” Rowe, who was called back to active duty in 1981 to design and build a course based on his own POW experience.
Rowe was captured by the Viet Cong and held prisoner for 62 months before he escaped by distracting and overpowering his captors while UH-1 helicopters flew overhead, Lemasters said. Rowe was rescued by Maj. David Thompson, who piloted the UH-1 that Rowe subsequently flagged down.
Rowe is known as “the father of the current SERE program,” Lemasters said, “and this is just one example of our nation’s dedication and commitment to never forget.”
Lemasters said that when he was deployed to Iraq, his unit participated in the April 1, 2003, rescue of POW Jessica Lynch and the recovery of eight other service members, whose remains were repatriated.
“Although I did not participate in this mission, I did participate in the preparation of the battlefield for that mission,” he said.
Then in Iraq in 2008, Lemasters took part in a daytime hostage rescue of five Italian hostages and one Polish hostage, which led to the liberation and rescue of an American hostage.
“I have been personally involved in searching for POWs and MIAs in some way, shape or form in both Afghanistan and Iraq and many other locations around the world,” he said.
“Our mission will not be complete until the government provides full accountability of the remaining 81,186 missing from World War II, the Korean War, the Vietnam War, the Cold War and the Gulf Wars,” Taheny said. “Out of more than 81,000 missing, 75% of the losses are located in the Indo-Pacific and over 41,000 of the missing are presumed lost at sea.
“These are Americans who are still unaccounted for,” Taheny said. “Fiscal year 2024 has brought us incredible news – 149 of our missing have been found, reminding us of the power of resilience and determination. While there’s much to celebrate, there are still 81,186 families still awaiting closure, those families who are living day-to-day hoping and mourning at the same time.”
Matt Mackenzie, the event’s master of ceremonies from the Vietnam Vets Legacy Vets Motorcycle Club, read an excerpt from a proclamation signed by President Biden marking Sept. 20, 2024, as National POW-MIA Recognition Day. The proclamation encourages “my fellow citizens across the nation to reflect on today and let us not forget those heroes who never returned home from the battlefields around the world or their families who are still waiting for answers.”
The Honor Guard from the American Legion Post 237 provided a rifle salute, and 12-year-old Chloe Kim played Taps.
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