Team Shaw celebrates POW/MIA Remembrance Day

  • Published
  • By Airman 1st Class Diana M. Cossaboom
  • 20th Fighter Wing Public Affairs
SHAW AIR FORCE BASE, S.C. --  Team Shaw recognized prisoners of war and missing in action personnel through a series of events here, Sept. 18-19.

The Air Force Sergeants Association, Chapter 377, sponsored a 24-hour run where individuals took turns carrying the POW/MIA guidon while running laps around Memorial Lake.

"It's a day where we as the U.S., remember those who are or were held in captivity and those who are still out there," said Master Sgt. Adam Weinberg, 20th Logistics Readiness Squadron knowledge operations section chief.

The official retreat ceremony began after the final runner, escorted by 20th Security Forces Squadron patrolmen and the Green Knights Motorcycle club, posted the POW/MIA guidon.

One of the goals for holding the ceremony was to bring awareness that there are service members still in captivity and others who went missing and never made it back to their families, said Weinberg.

There are more than 83,000 Americans still unaccounted for from previous wars the United States has participated in. It is the Defense Prisoner of War Missing Personnel Office's responsibility to find and bring home those missing personnel.

The DPMO has approximately 600 personnel working to find the missing Americans, fulfilling the promise made by the U.S. government to account for the Americans who went missing while serving their country.

Beverly Mims, wife of Capt. George Mims Jr., an Airman who was first declared MIA, then affirmed killed in action during the Vietnam War, spoke to the Airmen, soldiers, and veterans who attended the ceremony about her husband who was a weapons system operator in a McDonnell Douglas Phantom II Fighter F-4C. He was flying cover patrol for a mission when his aircraft received a direct hit from a surface to air missile.

"By offering her testimony about her tumultuous situation, it reinforces that we must not forget those who came before us and for that time in our country's history was a huge part of the building blocks that has made us into the world's most powerful military," said Tech. Sgt. Timothy Montjoy, 609th Air Communications Squadron NCO in-charge of U.S. Air Forces Central help desk.

Those who dress in the uniform may wear it for different reasons, but all need to remember the sacrifices that were given so military members can continue to wear the uniform and Americans can keep their freedom, said Weinberg.