MEDIA CONTEST: Airmen brave the elements for run

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ACC MEDIA CONTEST --  More than 100 servicemembers and civilians braved the rain, wind and altitude Sept. 22 to complete their leg of a 37-mile relay run to Mount Rushmore to honor prisoners of war and servicmembers missing in action.

The POW/MIArun began at the Air and Space Museum just after 6 a.m. and ended at Mount Rushmore around noon.

Someone from each leg carried the POW/MIA flag to increase awareness and recognize the sacrifices made by these veterans.

It worked.

As we ran through town, some people were honking their horns, waving and cheering, said Ruben Martinez, 28th Services Squadron discovery resource specialist.

Up at Mount Rushmore, the scene was more somber.

Nearly 20 people wearing POW/MIA hats were there to greet the group, some were crying. One man just kept saying, "Thank you! Thank you so much."

Initially, event organizer Master Sgt. Christopher Hastings thought the rain, wind and cold weather might be bad enough to cancel the event, but participants arrived in full force.

" We almost called it off, but so many people were excited about doing it that we did it anyway," said Sergeant Hastings, 28th Maintenance Operations Squadron non-commissioned officer in charge of maintenance operations center. "Not only did everyone show up, we had extra people."

In addition to the 104 runners, approximately 10 volunteers from across Ellsworth units helped orchestrate the six-hour event designed to remember the sacrifices made by POWs and MIAs and to reaffirm the pledge our nation's leaders made to account for every servicemember who did not come home.

"It's important for us to keep them on the forefront of our minds, especially during war," said Mr. Martinez, who ran the 18th leg from Fort Hayes to Reptile Gardens. "The weather was a minor inconvenience compared to what the POWs went through."

Mr. Martinez volunteered because he said it was important to recognize veterans who were prisoners of war or listed as missing in action. Currently there are four military organizations committed to accounting for about 88,000 U.S. servicemembers missing from the nation's wars. They include about 78,000 missing from World War II, more than 8,100 from the Korean War, 1,801 from the Vietnam War and about 125 from the Cold War, said Larry Greer, a spokesperson for the Defense Prisoner of War/Missing Personnel Office in Washington, D.C.

"In today's society, people want to bring attention to the suffering of our brethren," said Sergeant Hastings. "I'm not surprised by the level of commitment Ellsworth gives to past, present and future military. Ellsworth always comes through and we always make a point of saying, 'look at what we do.' I like being part of an organization that says, 'look at what we do, look at what they did.'"