EX-POW BULLETIN the official voice of the American Ex-Prisoners of War 501(c)3 Veterans Service Organization Volume 78 www.axpow.org Number 4/5/6 April/May/June, 2021 We exist to help those who cannot help themselves “Flags In” ~ Memorial Day, Arlington National Cemetery The Korean war began on June 25, 1950, when some 75,000 soldiers from the North Korean People’s Army poured across the 38th parallel, the boundary between the Soviet-backed Democratic People’s Republic of Korea to the north and the pro-Western Republic of Korea to the south. This invasion was the first military action of the Cold War. By July, American troops had entered the war on South Korea’s behalf. The National Archives has 4,714 Americans listed as prisoners of war…there are still more than 7,800 still missing in action and unaccounted for. April-June 2021 table of contents Soldier, rest, thy warfare o’er, Dream of fighting fields no more. Officers/Directors 4 Sleep the sleep that knows not breaking, National Commander 5 Morn of toil, nor night of waking. CEO 6 Sir Walter Scott Medsearch 7 Memorial Day began as a memorial for Civil War veterans. It has Legislative 11 become both, a National Decoration Day of family graves, and the Andersonville 12 holiday that opens the summer season. It is celebrated with NamPOW 13 backyard barbecues, outdoor picnics and parades. POW/MIA 14 Civilian 15 No survivor of that war remains, but the memories of it grow News 18 longer. As do our memories of the parades with floats; civic Events 19 organizations and drum majorettes twirling their batons; lines and PNCs 19 lines of young veterans from The Gulf War and shorter lines of History 20 older men who saw service in the Second World War. As long as Veterans Legacy 22 there are wars, there will be veterans and casualties. We will still “Unsolvable” 23 decorate the graves of those men whose bodies came home and The Ride Home 26 remember those who don’t. New members 27 Contributions 28 Just before Memorial Day weekend, the 3rd U.S. Infantry Regiment Taps/Chaplain 29 (the "Old Guard") honors America's fallen heroes by placing Voluntary Funding 34 American flags at gravesites for service members buried at Arlington National Cemetery and the U.S. Soldiers' and Airmen's Publisher Home National Cemetery. PNC Milton M Moore Jr 2965 Sierra Bermeja This tradition, known as "Flags In," has taken place annually since Sierra Vista, AZ 85650 the Old Guard was designated as the Army's official ceremonial (520) 249-7122 unit in 1948. Every available soldier in the 3rd U.S. Infantry [email protected] Regiment participates, placing small American flags in front of more than 228,000 headstones and at the bottom of about 7,000 Editor niche rows in the cemetery's Columbarium Courts and Niche Wall. Each flag is inserted into the ground, exactly one boot length Cheryl Cerbone from the headstone's base. 23 Cove View Drive South Yarmouth, MA 02664 At the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, the Sentinels (who are (508) 394-5250 members of the Old Guard) place flags to honor the [email protected] Unknowns. Army chaplains place flags in front of the headstones and four memorials located on Chaplains' Hill in Section 2. Deadline for the July-Sept. 2021 Bulletin is June 1, 2021 Please send all materials to the All flags are removed after Memorial Day, before the cemetery editor at the above address. opens to the public. EX-POW Bulletin (ISSN 0161-7451) is published quarterly (four times annually) by the American Ex-Prisoners of War, PO Box 3445, Arlington, TX 76007-3445. Periodical postage paid at Arlington, TX and additional mailing offices. Postmaster: send address changes to EX-POW Bulletin, AXPOW Headquarters, PO Box 3445, Arlington, TX 76007-3445. Founded April 14, 1942, in Albuquerque, NM, then known as Bataan Relief Organization, Washington State non- profit corporation, “American Ex-Prisoners of War”, October 11, 1949, recorded as Document No. 133762, Roll 1, Page 386-392. NONPROFIT CORPORATION. Nationally Chartered August 10, 1982. Appearance in this publication does not constitute endorsement by the American Ex-Prisoners of War of the product or service advertised. The publisher reserves the right to decline or discontinue any such advertisement. © 2021 American Ex-Prisoners of War axpow board of directors National Headquarters PO Box 3445, Arlington, TX 76007-3445 (817) 649-2979 [email protected] National Commander ~ Robert Certain 5100 John D Ryan Blvd, Apt 1801, San Antonio, TX 78245 (770) 639-3313 [email protected] operations board of directors Edward “Ted” Cadwallader Sally Morgan Elk Grove, CA Grand Prairie, TX Chief Executive Officer (916) 685-5369 (972) 896-7252 [email protected] [email protected] David Eberly Jim 'Moe' Moyer Williamsburg, VA Lake Wales, FL (757) 508-8453 (407) 448-1181 [email protected] [email protected] Pam Warner Eslinger Mary Schantag Chief Operations Officer Hammon, OK Branson, MO Clydie J Morgan (580) 821-1526 (417) 336-4232 PO Box 3445 [email protected] [email protected] Arlington TX 76007-3445 (817) 300-2840 - Cell Ben Garrido Charles A. Susino [email protected] Tulsa, OK Piscataway, NJ (951) 313-9838 (732)221-0073 [email protected] [email protected] Chief Financial Officer Marsha M Coke Alan Marsh Jan Williams 2710 Charon Court Lizella, GA Guthrie, OK Grand Prairie TX 75052 (478) 951-9247 (580) 821-2376 (817) 649-2979 – Office [email protected] [email protected] (817) 723-3996 – Cell [email protected] Milton ‘Skip’ Moore Sierra Vista, AZ (520) 249-7122 [email protected] Advisory Committees to ten I believe it vital that the national years. The FACA has resulted in Department of Veterans Affairs long-serving former POWs being locate all living POWs on the DoD removed from the VA Advisory list and to invite those outside the commander Committee on Former POWs VA system to come in for protocol along with their corporate physicals to determine service- knowledge of the work done. I connected disabilities and to believe term limits should be receive treatment in VA Medical lifted for this particular Advisory Centers and Clinics. Committee and opportunity given for former members to return to Finally, I urge the Congress and service. this nation to continue to search for the remains of our fallen, to I shall also urge the Veterans identify those remains whenever Affairs Committees to require the possible, and to secure their Secretary of the VA to place this burial in American soil. Much has committee under his direct been accomplished, but much oversight. In the last dozen years more needs to be done. it has been moved away from that Office and placed several levels This nation must always stand down under the Veterans Benefit with those men and women who Robert G. Certain Administration. That placement have stood between their loved 5100 John D Ryan Blvd, Apt has made it easy to ignore and home and war’s desolation, and 1801 its recommendations easy to lose. the Department of Veterans San Antonio, TX 78245 Affairs must live up to its charge (770) 639-3313 We will also try to work with the to care for those who have borne [email protected] Secretary of Veterans Affairs to the battle, their surviving spouses obtain the official list of former and their orphans. prisoners of war from the . Department of Defense. As we enter into a season with a new Administration and a new Congress, the legislative agenda for American Ex-POWs will remain much as it has since our establishment in 1942: the veterans’ earned benefits of Last March, just before healthcare, and fair compensation the country began to for sacrifices made in the service lockdown all activities of this nation. due to COVID-19, Commander Certain During this first session of the presented our annual 117th Congress, we will urge Congressional testimony attention to several concerns before the Joint affecting former POWs, other House/Senate Veterans veterans, and their families or Affairs Committee. This survivors. year, our testimony was written and offered to the First, I will urge modifications to committees. It is two existing laws, PL97-37 (the available on our website. Former Prisoners of War Benefit Act) and the Federal Advisory Committee Act of 1972 which limits volunteer citizen service on We heard from Dwight Mears from Oregon that the POW medal is still not from the CEO being awarded equally by the different branches of service. In our testimony, Cheryl Cerbone we asked the committees to look into this and rectify it. Please read the columns in each Bulletin for pertinent information on the issues that are important to us all as a community. We will be asking you to get involved again this year. This April is AXPOW’s 79th birthday. As One year. information began leaking out about the atrocities and subhuman treatment that It was one year ago this week that Commander Certain, his wife, American prisoners of war were Robbie and I made the annual trek to Washington, DC to offer receiving in Japanese prison camps in the testimony of our organization to the Joint House/Senate the Pacific. When wives and mothers Veterans Affairs Committees. We had lunch at Legal Seafood, heard about their sons and husbands then walked across to the Capitol. The Commander spoke before who had been taken prisoner, they a mostly uninterested number of aides and one committee started calling and writing their member, we flew home and that was the last time I traveled, congressmen in an effort to find help or spent time with a group or ate in a restaurant.