‘A grateful nation should never forget the fallen’

Members of the Williamstown community came together to honor the nation’s thousands of military personnel who never returned from war. 

National POW/MIA (Prisoner of War and Missing in Action) Recognition Day is observed annually on the third Friday of September to honor those individuals on a date that is not associated with any war. This year, the day fell on September 18. 

That evening, the American Legion Post 252 hosted its annual Recognition Day ceremony at the Pfeiffer Community Center. The ceremony and vigil featured members and leaders of Post 252 and its women’s auxiliary, Scout Troop 234, Williamstown’s Junior Reserve Office Training Corps (ROTC) and local council members.

“National POW/MIA Recognition Day is dedicated to approximately 91,819 veterans. 3,500 from World War One, 78,000 from World War II, 7,900 from Korea, 1,957 from Vietnam, 14 from the Gulf War and 357 from the Cold War. They all never returned home to receive our thanks, and are still missing from our midst,” said Frankie Gabbianelli, a Williamstown singer who hosted the event.

“In 1979, Congress and (President Jimmy Carter) passed a resolution making (the Recognition Day) official after the families of more than 2,500 Vietnam War POW/MIAs pushed for a full accountability,” he said. 

The ceremony involved the participating groups and audience. After Gabbianelli’s opening remarks was the invocation prayer, given by Legion member Barry Billman. While he discussed the importance of honoring the nearly 92,000 POW/MIA veterans, he emphasized the need to remember the lives unaccounted for. 

“We must also remember the countless not named who have also gone missing in action,” he said. “Lord, lead our military and political leaders in ways that sustain their efforts to locate and return the remains of our veterans who have gone missing in action.”

Four members from the Junior ROTC performed the posting of the colors, and immediately after, a scout from Troop 234 lowered the flag to half mast; at the end of the ceremony, the same scout raised the flag back up. 

Additionally, Adam Simon, another scout from Troop 234, sang the National Anthem and “God Bless America” at separate times throughout the ceremony. Williamstown teen Stephen Edward Fehon performed “Taps” towards the end of the event. 

Members of Post 252’s women’s auxiliary, Dawn Reader and Sandy Kammer, presented the wreaths shortly before the candle lighting portion of the ceremony. One wreath represented POW/MIA, and the other represented all-military service. 

“Today we pause to honor the brave Americans who were prisoners of war and who remain missing in action,” said Don Heverly, Monroe Township’s council president who spoke in place of Mayor Greg Wolfe, who missed the ceremony due to a death in the family. 

“The Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency listed there are still 80,711 Americans still unaccounted for today,” he said. “These men and women endured unimaginable hardships, separation, uncertainty, and yet they carried the honor of our nation with them.”

While everyone in attendance at the ceremony held a white lit candle, the Junior ROTC members read allowed names and branches of many POW/MIAs, with a bell ringing after each one. 

“Those who have served and those currently serving in the uniformed services of the United States are ever mindful that the sweetness of enduring peace has always been tainted by the bitterness of personal sacrifice,” Gabbianelli said before inviting up Frank Scales, Post 252’s vice commander, to explain the POW/MIA table and empty chair. 

“The table is small, symbolizing the frailty of one prisoner alone against his or her suppressors. The tablecloth is white, symbolic of the purity of their intentions to respond to their country’s call to arms. The single rose in the vase signifies the blood that may have been shed and sacrificed to ensure the freedom of our beloved United States of America…The chair is empty. They are not here,” Scales said, in addition to further explanation for other items positioned on the table. 

Post 252’s Clark Sprigman gave the benediction, or final blessing, before the ceremony commenced and attendees went to the Post for light refreshments. 

“A grateful nation should never forget the fallen. We were humbled by stories of sacrifice given by them, so our nation can continue to be free,” Sprigman said. “Their sacrifice and duty in the face of danger is a tribute to our nation’s fighting spirit.”

The Recognition Day ceremony came exactly one week after the 25th anniversary of 9/11,  where many towns across Gloucester County held remembrance ceremonies for the lives lost in the attacks. It also came just under two months before Veterans Day on Wednesday, November 11. American Legion Post 252 will host its annual celebration on November 11 at 11 a.m. at Memorial Point.