By NATE KING
Salina Post
The month of May, what does it make you think about? Summer vacation, community BBQs, road trips to see relatives, going to baseball/softball tournaments, finally packing away your winter coat, or if you are like me celebrating your birthday.
There is however one important day which honors and remembers those men and women who gave their lives in order for us to live in a free country- I'm talking about Memorial Day.
This year, on May 29, the Salina American Legion Post 92 in partnership with the City of Salina, will honor a unique set of veterans, MIA-POWs.
The POW/MIA recognition project was spearheaded by Jason McIntire, commander of the Sons of the American Legion Squadron 62 and fellow squadron members Kirk Cibolsk (vice commander) and Adam Hummel (treasure). McIntire came up with the idea last year after wondering how many Salina/Saline County residents became POW/MIAs in the wars, according to Sons of the American Legion Squadron 62.
The 11 POWs from Saline County will be honored with inscribed paving bricks at the site south of the war memorial in Sunset Park. See below for a list of POWs from Saline County.
● Lewis J. Wehr, WWII/Army 31INF
● Donald A. Achenbach, WWII/AF BS452 BG
● James Cole, WWII/Air Force
● Harold Fulton, WWII/Army AF 15AF
● Wilbur D. Gott, WWII/Army 28INF
● Robert H. Maxey, Korea, Vietnam/Army Co G 32 Regt 7 Div
● Thomas A. McGinness, WWII/Army
● Vernon K. Rawlings, WWII/8AF 92BG
● Kenneth Schoshke, WWII/Army 34INF
● Charlie A. Stanley, WWII/Army AF B24 Bomber Pilot
● Ernest V. Swanson, WWII/Army AF ETO 44BG
Additionally, Dennis Pugh, Vietnam, 25th Tactical Fighter Squadron, 8th Tactical Fighter Wing, 7th U.S. Air Force, is the only service member from Saline County who remains missing in action. He will be honored with a monument to the south of the war memorial, according to information in the news release.
"I am incredibly moved and honored that Jason and his group did this," Dale Pugh, brother of Major Pugh said. "Not at my suggestion or direction, we have bought some memorials to my brother all around Kansas and all around the country, in fact, but they've been put there because my family wanted them there. Now here's an opportunity for Salina and Saline County to honor one of their own because at least Jason McIntire and the sons of the American Legion believe it was the right thing to do. And so we hope that anyone that goes out to the memorial in the future will actually think about what all those names represent. And the fact that there's kind of a unique recognition of Dennis, because he is in kind of an interesting category being missing an action, it means that you just never found out you don't know."
McIntire and committee members had fundraisers to benefit the project, which will cost more than $10,000.
"To myself, it is very important to not only learn history but also to remember those who have fought and died to give people the freedom we have today. The POW/MIA monument we are building, thanks those veterans from Salina/Saline county and to make sure they are never forgotten," McIntire said.
Also in attendance for the Memorial Day ceremony will be Ann Mills-Griffiths, chairman of the board of directors of the National League of POW/MIA Families. She will offer her presentation at 6 p.m. May 28 at the American/Legion Post 62/VFW Post 1432.
Commander James B. Mills, USNR, Mills-Griffiths’ brother, was listed as MIA on Sept. 21, 1966, when the Navy F4B on which he served as Radar Intercept Officer (RIO) disappeared on a night, low-flying bombing mission over North Vietnam. He was on his second tour, assigned to Fighter Squadron 21, USS Coral Sea.
According to information from Veterans Affairs, 140,000 American service members were captured and served time as POWs, and more than 81,500 Americans remain missing from WWII, the Korean War, the Vietnam War, the Cold War, and the Gulf Wars/other conflicts. Out of the more than 81,500 missing, 75 percent of the losses are located in the Indo-Pacific, and more than 41,000 of the missing are presumed lost at sea (i.e. ship losses, known aircraft water losses, etc.).