Archive: Around Town

As the flames reach higher and higher, a line of soldiers from all generations streams forward to put a piece of wood on the fir, their faces illuminated by the dancing flames.  For the 17th year, that was the scene at Lansing's Myers Park Friday night as local veterans and ROTC students honored America's missing and dead as part of the nationwide POW/MIA Remembrance Day.  "We are lighting this watch fire as a symbolic gesture that all America's known prisoners of war, and those still listed as Missing In Action, will see the flames and find their way back home," said Marine veteran Harvey Baker.

The watch fire is co-sponsored by veterans Chapters 704 of Cayuga County and Cortland's Chapter 377.  A founder and the first president of Chapter 704 Frank Bell was on the point early to prepare the enormous stack of wood for the evening's event.  Bell was wounded while serving in Vietnam in the Marine Recon unit, losing a leg, a kidney, part of his sight, and eight inches of his large intestine in 1966, ending three years of service, 27 of which was in-country.  "We all met on common ground, and now we come back and meet again on common ground to symbolize the unity that we felt then and have now," he says.  "Some day if God grants us our wish, we won't need to go to war any more."


Bell wears an MIA-POW bracelet with the name of Lieutenant Colonel Richard Hawthorne engraved on it.  He was a helicopter pilot from Troy, NY who MEDEVACed  Bell to an aid station in Vietnam when he was wounded, and flew Bell on several reconnaissance missions.  "He did not make it back," Bell says.  "He became missing a year later.  It's been my lifelong mission so see him come home, or see his remains come home so I can put some closure to my experience in Vietnam."


There were a lot of stories like that as people remembered lost specific companions.  "As of tonight over 78,000 are listed as Missing In Action from World War II," Baker said.  "Over 8,100 from the Korean War. 1,179 from the Vietnam war, and 4 soldiers from the Iraq war.  With that in mind we are dedicating this watch fire to Lieutenant Commander Michael Spitzer, a Navy pilot shot down in the Persian Gulf war in 1991 who is still listed as Missing In Action."

The keynote speaker was Lieutenant Colonel David Taylor, who has been in the U.S. Marine Corp for 22 years and is now stationed at Cornell as second in command of ROTC.  Taylor reminded the assembly why there were there.  "You have to remember that there is a hole in the hearts of the families of those who never came home that will never heal," he said.  "Those families live the rest of their days wondering what became of their loved ones."

"On the battlefield the flag is very distant," Taylor said.  "Your homeland is very distant.  The commander in chief is very distant.  But your brothers and sisters-in-arms are next to you, in the next hole, in the next vehicle, in the next room, or the next compartment on ship.  Men and women will fight for one another because they love one another and were trained to be cohesive units.  That is why we must care about one another and never stop looking to get these people home."


Chapter 377's Tony Evangalista was in charge of the flag detail, made of veterans of all the services.  An Army Vietnam veteran, he has participated in the event for over 15 years.  "We have  the American flag, the POW flag, chapter flags, rifle escorts, and the unit flags," he said.  "We're hoping that some day the eighteen hundred and some that are still missing may be found, brought home, and laid to rest.  We're still missing them from World War II, there are four in Iraq."

The watch fire was used in the Revolutionary war as a way for soldiers from either side to gather to have their wounds tended, gather their dead during a time of truce.  By the morning of the next day they would disperse back to their units and go on with the battle.  The fire served as a beacon so combatants could find their way.   "The last actual watch fire used by the military was during the Civil War," says Vietnam Marine veteran Carl Steckler.  "It has not been used since then."


Taylor, a Lansing Resident, has been assigned to ROTC at Cornell for two years.  "We have a lot of great kids," Taylor says.  "One of the best parts of our job is working with the midshipmen.  A lot of these kids were in junior high school when the twin towers came down.  It's personal in a lot of ways to them.  A lot also have military parents, so they've grown up in that environment, and they have an appreciation for our country and a genuine desire to serve."

Baker addressed the students directly in a moment that was both inspiring and chilling as you looked at the rows of young faces.  "This is our 17th ceremony here," he said.  "I think you understand by now that should something happen to you there are veterans organizations all over this country who will not forget you.  We want you to know that and to understand that you will not be forgotten."


Lansing Supervisor Steve Farkas stood in the background, watching the event.  He said the Town is glad to host it, because it is a necessary, meaningful remembrance.  "It's not just a fly-by-night thing they do to get publicity," he says.  "They do it every year, and I think its an admirable thing to do and the right thing to do."

That sentiment seemed to be shared by everyone in attendance.  Whether you are for war or against it, this was about those who sacrificed for our country regardless of the politics.  "Some day we've got to find them," Evangalista  says.  "They've got to come home to rest in their own land."

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