POW/MIA Day events honor missing military members (Dale Raebel)

Jacksonville will remember missing military members Friday and Saturday at events marking National POW/MIA Recognition Day.

An open house is scheduled Friday at Jacksonville’s National POW/MIA Memorial at Cecil Airport on the city’s Westside. Speakers on Saturday will include Meghan Wagner, daughter of Navy Capt. Scott Speicher, a Cecil-based aviator who became the first American combat casualty of the Iraq War.

National POW/MIA Recognition Day was established in 1979 by President Jimmy Carter to remember and honor missing and captive military personnel, their families and their communities.

Jacksonville’s National POW/MIA Memorial is centered around the former Naval Air Station Cecil Field’s Chapel of the High Speed Pass at 6112 POW-MIA Memorial Parkway. The memorial already had a Hero’s Walk of Honor, a starburst metal display of aircraft and a granite base seal of the former Master Jet Base. It now has four concrete pads for restored Navy aircraft. The walkways between them represent a miniature replica of the base’s runways,

Read more

Other Publications You Might Be Interested In

George E. Smith, Vietnam Veteran and Prisoner of War

I had the honor of photographing George E. Smith, a Vietnam Veteran and former Prisoner of War for 614 Magazine. The Vietnam War has resurfaced in the American consciousness lately thanks in large part to the documentary by Ken Burns.  The documentary tells the story of the Vietnam War through

Read More »

Major Steve Long

Stephen Long, 74, of Las Vegas, flew west for the last time August 10, 2018. He died from complications arising from Parkinson’s Disease. Steve graduated from Willamette University in 1966 and entered the U.S. Air Force March 13, 1967. He trained as a fighter pilot, was selected for 0-2 Forward Air Controller

Read More »

Always Out Front (Donald Rander)

During the night of January 31, 1968, a Villa in Hue occupied by the 135th MI Group regional team came under attack.   The shelling awakened Sergeant Donald Rander, assistant Special Agent in Charge of the Hue Regional Headquarters.   Grabbing flak jackets and weapons, the members grouped on the second floor.  They remained there

Read More »