JBER honors POW/MIA day with somber ceremony

by Tech Sgt. Raymond Mills
JBER Public Affairs

9/26/2014 - JOINT BASE ELMENDORF-RICHARDSON, Alaska -- Service members honored missing and fallen comrades Sept. 19, during a POW/MIA ceremony at Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson.

According to Defense Prisoner of War and Missing Personnel Office, National POW/MIA Recognition Day honors prisoners of war and missing service members and their families, and highlights the government's commitment to account for them.

"The POW/MIA ceremony is an opportunity to honor service members whose service takes an unfortunate turn and places them in the most difficult circumstances with little we can do to assist them," said Sen. Mark Begich. "Service members should take comfort in knowing that if they are ever a victim of these circumstances, their military brothers and sisters will continue to honor their service, support their families, educate the next generation about their sacrifice, and most importantly that they will never be forgotten."

The U.S. military honors a tradition of the "no man left behind" philosophy with the Joint POW/MIA Accounting Command being core of that philosophy.

"It is important to hold this ceremony so the families and friends of prisoners of war and those missing in action can be assured that our nation has not forgotten their heartache and the services of their loved ones," Begich said. "These families live under a cloud of uncertainty and despair, being denied the return of their loved one or closure.  It is an especially cruel kind of heartache that most of us will never know.

"The ceremony should also serve as a reminder to all service members that the ethos of the American military is that we don't leave people behind.  If we cannot keep the promise to bring them home from the battlefield, we will keep them in our hearts and will continue to honor their service and sacrifice.  We need to keep those service members missing in action and those who were prisoners of war as well as their families in our thoughts and prayers because our nation owes them a great debt. The POW/MIA ceremony is an important opportunity to renew and strengthen our resolve that we will never forget."

According to their website, the POW/MIA Accounting Command conducts global search, recovery and laboratory operations to identify unaccounted-for Americans from past conflicts to support the Department of Defense personnel accounting efforts.

"I am proud to live in and serve for a nation that continues to support a pledge to leave no one behind," said Air Force Lt. Gen. Russell Handy. "We recognize that just because someone is missing for a long time, this does not make our efforts to locate their missing less important. Those efforts go on. We must and will continue to do everything in our power to recover the remains of missing Americans, or to resolve the fate of these servicemen. Today's generation of men and women in uniform must know that we will keep that solemn commitment to them as they protect our nation's interests around the world, for the sake of generations to come.

"They say I will not falter, I will not fail," Handy said. "Just don't forget me. These are the men and women we serve with today, who honor those who sacrificed before them."

Handy is the commander of Alaskan Command, Joint Task Force-Alaska, 11th Air Force, and Alaska Region, North American Aerospace Defense Command at JBER.

Since 2003, JPAC has identified more than 700 missing Americans and more than 1,800 have been repatriated since efforts began in the 1970s according to their website.