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81,864 lives remembered at Hickam

  • Published
  • By Staff Sgt. Carolyn Viss
  • Public Affairs
JOINT BASE PEARL HARBOR-HICKAM, Hawaii --  81,864.

That's how many military members are prisoners of war or missing in action - more than all of the officers in the U.S. Air Force and almost as many as all the U.S. Air Force and Marine Corps officers combined.

For those 81,864, POW/MIA Remembrance Day was recognized Sept. 17, 2010, and the Air Force Sergeants Association at Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam, Hawaii, organized a 24-hour relay and a reveille/wreath laying ceremony in their honor.

"You are not forgotten," is the simple message on the POW/MIA flag, and that flag was carried around the track on the end of a rifle by the men of the 25th Air Support Operations Squadron as they ran throughout the night.

"We have people taken prisoners of war and go missing in action on a daily basis," said Master Sgt. Jeanna Irby, the AFSA president and enlisted aide for the Pacific Air Forces commander. "It's important that we never forget because we wouldn't have the freedoms we have without our fellow military service members."

Bringing them home and giving their families peace is the goal, she said, and until they're all brought back and accounted for we will always take the time to recognize the sacrifice they made. Some even made the ultimate sacrifice.

"I have had many fellow service members and friends killed in action or become POWs," Sergeant Irby testified. "It's humbling to be here to honor them."

It's also part of a bigger picture, she said.

"This is what we all signed up to do: to put our lives on the line to keep America free," she said.