POW/MIA Recognition Day Ceremony

Staff Sgt. Dejon Fruga, Blue Eagles Total Force Honor Guard, plays “Taps” on his bugle at the end of the ceremony. (U.S. Air Force photo by Linda Welz)

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POW/MIA Recognition Day Ceremony

Members of the Blue Eagles Total Force Honor Guard prepare to present the POW/MIA table. In the background, seated, Col. Jeffrey Pennington, 452nd Operations Group commander, and Mr. Larry Greer, keynote speaker, look on. (U.S. Air Force photo by Linda Welz)

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POW/MIA Recognition Day Ceremony

The March Field Museum created a special exhibit of POW/MIA artifacts which they displayed in the Cultural Resource Center lobby. One of the items on display was Senior Master Sgt. Louis Le Blanc’s Vietnam POW cup. (U.S. Air Force photo by Linda Welz)

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POW/MIA Recognition Day Ceremony

At the reception following the POW/MIA Recognition Day Ceremony, former prisoner of war Leo M. Schocker (left), talks with the keynote speaker, Larry Greer, director of public affairs for the DOD POW/MIA Personnel Office. Schocker was a radio operator with the Army’s 17th Airborne. He was imprisoned in Stalag 9B from Jan. 7, 1945 through the end of World War II. “They called it the death camp because it was one of the worst,” he said. During his speech, Greer discussed the POW/MIA Personnel Office’s mission. He said the office is able to identify remains recovered overseas through mitochrondrial DNA testing using a DNA sample from a blood relative. When a blood relative is unavailable, in some cases, the office has been able to make a positive identification in other ways. Greer recounted a touching story where a widow had a saved boxes of love letters from her missing-in-action husband. Because she had opened each letter on the side with a pair of scissors, the POW/MIA office was able to extract the servicemember’s saliva from the envelope’s seal. The office was successful in making a positive identification of the husband’s remains. (U.S. Air Force photo by Linda Welz)

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POW/MIA Recognition Day Ceremony

The March Field Museum created a special exhibit of POW/MIA artifacts which they displayed in the Cultural Resource Center lobby. One of the items on display was an American flag that was used to identify POWs following liberation by the Soviets. (U.S. Air Force photo by Linda Welz)

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POW/MIA Recognition Day Ceremony

Published Oct. 3, 2010
By Linda Welz
452 AMW/PA

MARCH AIR RESERVE BASE, CALIF. -- POW/MIA Recognition Day Ceremony