POW and MIA recognition
Most of us have seen POW/MIA tables in restaurants and possibly in convention centers.
A small table with a place setting, a candle and a chair tipped over to the table. These displays are memorials to POWs.
September is approaching, with fall activities being planned, but it’s also the month when National POW/MIA Recognition Day occurs. The day falls on the third Friday of September, which this year is the 16th.
At the last meeting at Houston American Legion Post 41, a motion was made to place a table in the meeting hall. Once completed, it will be available to be seen by anyone who may be interested.
As I mentioned, Sept. 16 is National POW-MIA Recognition Day. Most of the larger branches of the American Legion, VFW and other organizations will have some sort of activity planned to commemorate our captured and missing service members.
To my knowledge there are no service members in the Houston Herald reading area who were a POW or listed as MIA. Should anyone know otherwise, please let me know.
Legion member and historian Jerry Wildhaber will be attending an Honor Flight to Washington, D.C., later this year. We are waiting to hear all the details. An added note: Jerry was a mechanic for and on Marine 1 during the Kennedy administration.
From the FRA newsletter: Commission on Care has found that the VA is inconsistent in care giving from one site to the next. To tackle this, Congress has created a 12-member panel.
My comments: It would seem that the first steps would be to reach out to the veterans themselves. This being an election year, I’m pretty sure that any panel report would be lip service to generate votes. After the elections, we would be back to a status quo.
In a year of doing this column, I have been given a great many opinions regarding the care and support offered and received from the VA and out clinics. Including a representative of one local medical facility who referred to vets as “those people”
I understand there are various human dynamics at play here up to and including self-entitlement. And all views should be taken into consideration. I don’t have the space to go into detail.
Just this week, I learned that O’Reilly’s Auto Parts offers military discounts. A small poster on the window, placed with the weekly ads, was the only announcement of this. Sadly, I did not see it until it was pointed out to me. My attention was focused elsewhere. The offer seems to be seven days a week unlike other stores that only offer such a discount on certain days.
To remind everyone: Meetings at American Legion Post 41 in Houston are on the second Thursday of each month at 5:30 p.m. There is pizza and soft drinks served.
Angie Fletcher of the University of Missouri Extension office was a guest speaker at the last meeting. We would like see more local veterans come to meetings — including our younger service members.
I wish everyone a safe and happy month.
Houston resident Keith Ford is a retired infantryman and an amateur writer whose work has appeared in publications around the world. Email kf4tap@yahoo.com.