HONORING VETERANS

Philip Grey, The Leaf-Chronicle 8:25 p.m. CDT September 19, 2014 On Friday, the daughter of an Air Force Lt. Col. missing in action for 46 years brought her father’s memory back to life at Fort Campbell on National POW/MIA Recognition Day FORT CAMPBELL, Ky. – Fort Campbell held an observance of National POW/MIA (Prisoner of War/Missing in Action) Recognition Day on Friday, which was the first time the post has held a formal event marking the day. The post’s Survivor Outreach Services (S.O.S.) program hosted the event at the Don F. Pratt Museum, thanks to the outreach of a surviving family member of a missing-in-action Vietnam-era Air Force pilot. Suzy Yates of S.O.S. said that Cindy Stonebraker approached her about the national day of observance and inspired her to help put together a program. It was a natural fit for S.O.S. to do so, since their function is to support surviving military family members. Though the fate of Stonebraker’s father is not known for sure, aft...

National POW/MIA Recognition Day is Sept. 19, 2014. But the mass movement to raise awareness for these servicemembers took place during the Vietnam War. The wives of POWs tortured and kept for years launched a fight to bring back prisoners of war and determine the fate of the men missing in action. Meanwhile, the men, especially the members of Alcatraz 11 — senior-level POWs that the North Vietnamese identified as resistance leaders — underwent isolation and torture. The group included James Stockdale, Bob Shumaker, Jeremiah Denton, George Coker, Sam Johnson, James Mulligan, Howard Rutledge, Harry Jenkins, George McKnight, Nels Tanner and Ronald Storz. Stockdale later received the Medal of Honor and ran for vice president. Johnson serves as a congressman from Texas, and Denton served as a senator from Alabama. Storz died in the Vietnamese prison known as Alcatraz. When Shumaker was deployed to Vietnam in 1965, his son was 3 weeks old. His wife was 21. He wouldn...

23 hours ago  •  ALEXANDER DEEDY Independent Record After more than 70 years, the remains of a World War II prisoner of war will be returned to his home in Augusta next week. Read more A block off Augusta’s main street, right by the pool, stands a white building the Augusta Area Historical Society has dedicated as a museum to the history of the town. Inside, on the wall to the right, hang two carvings: one of a waving American flag, one of the state of Montana with a gold star on Augusta. Beneath, hang nearly 130 portraits -- one for each person in the Augusta area that served during World War II. “My aunt claims, she said, ‘Augusta sent more young men percent-wise than any community in America,’” Dave Manix said. Portraits of Manix’s father and uncle hang on that wall. After walking out of church one Sunday in December 1941, they were told to turn on their car radio. For hours they sat and listened to reports of an attack on Pearl Harbor. Then th...