9.15.2023 Veterans Services POW/MIA Recognition Day Ceremony

everybody to pow Mia recognition day 2023 ceremony

all right I'm gonna have to yell a little louder at this time it's Massachusetts State Police will post the colors post colors post colors

thank you

thank you

oh

good job three ten oh at this time join me in a pledge of allegiance

this time I'm going to ask Father Robert nemkovic but open in prayer father Rob gentlemen uncover on this pow M.I.A Remembrance Day we pray almighty God author of Peace whose boundless love reaches beyond our vision and who holds all your children and tender compassion and concern we pray for those men and women who have been taken captive in war give them the courage to persevere in

the knowledge that they have not been forgotten give each missing Soldier courage and strength to endure give them peace in knowing that you will never leave them Lord we remember and pray for all of those missing in action to their families and loved ones give them the assurance that none are missing in your sight but held forever in the safety of your love we pray for the day when peace will

prevail so that no more loved ones will ever again be prisoners of war or listed as missing in action we give you thanks for all here this day who remember the sacrifice of so many for our country for our freedom and liberty and justice throughout the world this we ask in your holy name amen

at this time I'll ask Evan basoud to join us for the national anthem thank you

oh say can you see by the dawn's early light what so proudly we held at the twilight's last gleaming who's brought stripes and bright stars through the perilous fight or the ramparts we watched were so gallantly streaming and the rockets red glare the bombs bursting in air gave proof through the night that our flag was still there oh say does that Star Spangled Banner yet way live or the last Land of the Free

and the home of the brave

at this time we're going to retire the colors

what

hold up

they said everybody be seated please so that way you know and I don't forget my name's Charlie denmead I'm the MC I'm your MC today I have the pleasure and privilege of serving as commander of the 401 veterans Council and um I am proud to be here today amongst such uh great people who would take the time out of their lives to honor those who give us the most at this time I'm going to ask the

honorable mayor Paul Coogan to come up

first of all I want to welcome everybody to Bicentennial Park on this beautiful day a little Breezy but what we're here for is much more important honoring our prisoners of war and our missing an action of which there are still far too many it's a privilege to be joined by all of you today here and all the group on this platform acknowledging the work and uh it still

goes on to this day to try to make sure we bring everybody home and in this beautiful Monument where we honor our veterans day in and day out it's important that we keep our focus on our Mias who are still out there I want to thank everybody for coming and I appreciate all the efforts of our veterans to keep this country safe thank you

next I'd like to introduce a special guest our Secretary of Veterans Affairs John Santiago

good morning everyone Mary Coogan representative Fiola Senator rodriggs distinguished guest I think I saw representative Schmidt somewhere here earlier today let me just say I know that Fall River loves its veterans and there are fewer people and public servants on Beacon Hill and municipal government that are serving and advocating for them as hard as these folks are so I just want to

give them a big round of applause for their partnership and their commitment to our military veteran communities because it's so fitting that on this solemn day we've come together as a community to honor and publicly state that we will never forget those who did not return and that the sacrifice that they made Behind Enemy Lines will be remembered President Kennedy once said quote a nation reveals itself

not only by the men it produces but also by the men it honors the men it remembers and on this day we do just that we do so filled with gratitude a sense of purpose in a deep respect for the sacrifice of our pows and those M.I.A and we do it 81 000 times over for all those that are still unaccountered for including the almost three thousand who called Massachusetts home we remember them because they never

forgot us although they may have come from different backgrounds and circumstances they shared a commitment to our country to our values and our way of life and it's this American faith is why some not all were able to make it back home and as a veteran and a public servant like many of you here today I am just so grateful for that sacrifice one that we can never fully repay because we can't begin to Fathom their

loss their Despair and their trauma that they endured not just Behind Enemy Lines but when they returned back home I'm reminded of the life of Admiral Jeremiah Denton who in 1965 as a junior officer crashed this plane in North Vietnam and for eight years four of which were spent in solitary confinement was the pow after he returned home he wrote a book about his experiences the books told when hell was in session

in it he writes quote after a period of time pain becomes an all-encompassing entity a fiery blinding devil that courses into every part of the brain until you would literally do anything to escape it he spent four of those eight years in solitary confinement in a three by nine foot windowless prison cell they put them in there to separate them from the other pows because he led the resistance within that group

so the Viet Cong away from their leader and although they may have physically separated them from that cell they couldn't separate his leadership in fact they trotted them out on Vietnamese TV and asked him about being an American what's happening in the war and he said whatever the position of my country I believe in it I believe in our government and as a member of that government I have a job to support it

for as long as I live and for eight long years of torture of tears of trauma he returned home to a country that had to learn how to honor his sacrifice now Jeremiah Denton did not let an Extended Stay in Vietnam ruin his return home he came back resumed this career in the naval as a naval officer and became a natural and ultimately became a U.S senator and to me his story exemplifies resilience

and American resilience and the best way that we can honor not only the sacrifice that he made that all our pows made and those Mias and now we can honor that resilience is by living a life of purpose one committed to service and to community since swearing in our secretary I wake up every day bearing that responsibility Desiring to serve our community the best to my ability and I can assure you that Governor

Healey and lieutenant governor Driscoll are just as committed to honorably serving those who served us since assuming this position in March we've charted A New Path forward for Veterans Services with the support of our delegation up here we opened up we had a groundbreaking for a home in Holyoke just a couple of weeks ago and in a couple of months we'll be opening our new Chelsea Veterans Home

we've expanded veteran services across the board we've hired folks and we're committed to working and engaging with each and every one of you and we've also made the largest investment in Veterans Services at the Commonwealth has ever had and that's because all of us up here are committed to making sure that Massachusetts is second to none when it comes to honoring our military and Veteran families

and we do so not just with words but with actions so as we remember our pow and our Mia today and every day ask you to join me in answering that call to action both the governor and lieutenant governor seek to meet that moment but they want to do it in partnership with each and every one of you so thank you again for allowing me to be here in Fall River and enjoy this beautiful day in

remembrance of our pow and our Mia thank you

thank you secretary next I'd like to call up is our state Senator Michael Rogers good morning thank you Charlie good morning everyone secretary Santiago thank you you honor us here today with your presence Mia Coogan a city council is Michelle Dion and Linda Pereira Police Chief Dan Racine to my colleagues Paul Paul Garvin yes that's right sorry about that chief um and most of all to my colleagues

representative Carroll Fiola representative Alan Silva representative Paul Schmid because as the secretary said in Massachusetts we are second to none on how we provide benefits and services to our veterans and we are going to remain that way and to the entire veterans community know that we are here today to remember all of those pows and Mias and we shall never forget them for as

long as we all live thank you all very much

thank you senator next I'd like to introduce state representative Carl Fiola thank you Charlie thank you to all my colleagues sitting here thank you secretary Santiago for coming to Fall River today on a very busy day to remind us and share those very important words and stories it's those type of very heart-wrenching stories that drive us and those are the stories that some of you carry because you are

veterans and served and those are the stories that those of us who have not need to always be reminded of because too often we can live our lives and forget the reason we do things and you're a very important story will stick with me I know and everyone here for a very long time the senator said and it's so true we are the best of the best in terms of serving our veterans in the Commonwealth of

Massachusetts and we'll continue to do so but we only do so and especially here in Fall River myself rep Schmidt rev Sylvia Senator rodericks because of you those of you who Advocate every day and support our veterans Michelle Rob Bill Ken all of you are police everyone because you do our city councilors you remind us every day how important our veterans are and we will never forget and as we

think of the solemn stories and have a solemn remembrance today be assured your advocacy makes all the difference in the Commonwealth and in the country thank you for letting me be here foreign I have to add that the veterans of this community are eternally and grateful for our state delegation our Senator and our our Representatives work tirelessly to bring back benefits in everything that

this this city in this area needs and I can't I can't speak enough about what they do up there for us and all of us I'd also like to recognize representative Schmidt that was just uh previously before we started our ceremony and he had to leave but he he made it known that this meant a lot to him um I like to at this time introduce the incoming president of Rolling Thunder which I just officially

became a member of uh Rolling Thunder Mass chapter 2 Jim trigagas

so you're all wondering why somebody in a vest is standing in front of you let me tell you a little story I stand here before you a proud and humble member of Rolling Thunder Massachusetts chapter 2. my chapter is one of 81 chapters Nationwide we are 100 percent non-profit organization made up of volunteers in order to provide a better understanding of what we are all about please allow me to read our mission

statement the major function of Rolling Thunder Incorporated is to publicize pow and Mia issue to educate the public that many American prisoners of War were left behind after all wars to help correct the past and protect future veterans from being left behind should they become a prisoner of war or missing in action we also are committed to helping veterans from all wars so I am here to fulfill the first half

of that mission statement to publicize and educate today marks National prisoner of war missing in action recognition day which is observed annually on the third Friday of every September we're here to honor the service and sacrifice to all those who served all those who were held captive and returned home and to pay tribute to those who remain unaccounted for closest to home we honor 39 Massachusetts Patriots

whose names are on the wall behind me who have not come home why do we continue to publicize this issue those 39 Heroes Left Behind husbands wives Sons daughters mothers fathers and an Untold number of relatives who all seek closure we must continue to direct our elected officials to do everything in their power until they all come home our nation's promise to all service members who have signed a blank check

worth up to their lives is that they shall never be forgotten thank you very much

now I'd like to introduce the wall chairman Mr Joe Marshall thank you yeah I've hit the wall thank you thanks thanks Charlie uh as Jim said the third Friday in September can you hear me the third Friday in September is designated p-o-w-m-i-a recognition day and I'm I'm honored to be here to uh share that day with you um and again as Jim said just like the names on the wall behind me these these

were real people even though they're names and and the real people had mothers and fathers and sisters and brothers some spouses and and some children so to never forget that was that's the purpose of the wall and the purpose why we're here today and the purpose of probably everybody here um as Charlie said my name is Joe Marshall I I served with the United States Air Force Security Service from 1965 to

1969. I was a morse code intercept operator and then received additional training before going to Natron Vietnam in 1968 as a member of the 69 94th security Squadron like some veterans my military memory came back to me in later life I I went on without that until I got involved with the wall project and it became clear to me it wasn't a dream it was reality I I arrived during the Ted offensive

escorted by the 14th Security Police Squadron the skies were lit up it was a terrible first impression and my assignment for the next year I didn't sleep for two days but then I finally was brief and and integrated into the unit uh the base was headquarters for the fifth Special Forces which now that I think of it was a big plus for the 69-94 we flew our missions in a ec-47 affectionately known as the electric

goon which was built in the 1930s she was retrofitted from World War II she was old tired but reliable and we had Cracker Jack mechanics that that kept it flying our uh our mission was to use radio Direction finding equipment and fly over enemy territory and pick up radio Transmissions enemy troop movements and uh and triangulate and create a geographic fix on the enemy troop movements

Slow and Low we would fly seven to eight hours uh seven to eight hour missions over South Vietnam Laos and later Cambodia uh we were a spy plane and and periodically we would drop off leaflets propaganda leaflets which uh was designed to have the North Vietnamese uh integrate and and surrender to us or at least join us uh we knew the um the enemy units by their call signs uh our job was to find

the enemy so they could be taken out if we take them out our guys come home the the enemy transmission equipment was old and archaic which meant that we had to fly low to the ground to locate and copy signals the lower we flew the heavier the fire but the data collected was important as it was it was used to direct troop movements artillery fire tactical air strikes and B-52 missions

we were shot at almost every day and picked up shrapnel holes in the airplane and the first few missions you were worried and wondered if you would come back alive but after uh four or five missions you were busy from the time you took off till the time you came back uh I was only there uh three months when one of our goonie Birds didn't come back

it was a gut punch to me as I ate and drank with these Airmen it was later discovered that their aircraft took on heavy 37 millimeter anti-aircraft fire while flying with a Laos the crash-landed successfully near Ben hat Special Forces camp and All crew members were able to exit the aircraft safely after disengaging the rear door and discharging all of the planes heavy equipment all of their

spare parachutes the raft the Gibson Girl radio it's uh there's a lot of stories like that but this one I wanted to share because it had a very good ending um our uh our troops our troops fought a uh a guerrilla enemy in its own backyard uh the enemy was determined smart resourceful and could attack and melt into the jungle we also fought Monsoon rains for days then heat of 100 or 110 degrees mosquitoes snakes

and the smell of diesel fuel and sweat but living your life gives you an education every day is an education and the the military taught me a lot and I hopefully I've used that over the years it taught me how to work together to show respect individual commitment and to complete the mission keep your eye on the mission I thank God every day for the opportunities that I've been given

we make up all the pages in our own history book the pages are those on the wall are Mias pows they were brief with very little history but they will always be remembered fortunately our story is still being written and we should dedicate ourselves to help your federal veteran or your fellow veterans whenever and wherever you can this is our mission this is my mission the central phrase behind

p-o-w-m-i-a day is you are not forgotten you will not be forgotten brothers and sisters thank you

okay okay at this time we're going to ask the First Congressional Church Choir to sing God Bless America

for the record that's congregate congregational search we are not in Congress you can join us let me take this down because it's it's hard to you you may want to get okay okay tell us to sing with us do sing with us God bless America

from the mountains to the Prairie to the oceans God Bless America home sweet home God bless America my home some sweet home

outstanding that was outstanding thank you

um I would be remiss if I did not think um our two city council is sitting right here in the first row for their support for veterans and with the veterans in this community we have Council Michelle Dion and Council Linda Pereira so I I did not want to forget and not recognize them for what they do for the veterans and the rest of the community Okay so with that being said I would like to

DNA that is forever changed by a single loss and never knowing not a gold star family not a blue star family held in some sort of a holding pattern today we remind you that as my friend Ryan said and I'm going to say this every time I get to speak the United States is the only nation that seeks a full accounting of our missing inaction 81 383 families we promise to never forget to every person

politician veteran family member thank you so much for being here today if we have only accomplished one thing today and that is to make sure that the families of our missing know and understand that they are not forgotten that we have accomplished our mission today thank you so much so at this time I'm going to ask father Rob neenkovich to come up in uh for our closing prayer let us pray Lord God

we thank you for this Remembrance Day that are pows and Mias are not forgotten we thank you for the blessings that we have in our country we ask you to continue to bless those who serve those who have served in a special way your blessings upon those who still have loved ones as pows and Mias we thank you for the lessons of this day we ask your blessings upon all of us and your holy name amen

okay at this time I'll ask everyone to stand well Larry barolo will both taps

um

hmm we'd like to thank Paula Damaris for the dove release in Bill Damaris at this time the stationary honor God from vva 4 River Vietnam veterans association of forva were retire the colors

thank you

foreign

our ceremonies and invite everyone back to one government center for luncheon and friendship thank you thank you for coming today