Vietnam Veterans of America's chapters 377 Fingerlakes, 704 Auburn and 480 of Owego held the 24th annual Prisoner of War/Missing in Action Day Watchfire in Myers Park Friday.  Each year past, present and future service people gather in the Lansing Town park to celebrate POW/MIA Day, and to symbolically guide unaccounted-for soldiers home.

"The watchfire is historical symbol of guiding those who are lost after a battle to friendly territory," said Mike Moran, who finished his four year stint as First Lieutenant in the Army, and as Major after 17 years in the Reserves.  "Since the end of the Viet Nam war 942 missing have been identified and returned.  1,641 are still unaccounted for.  Captain William Phelps, United States Air Force, from Cortland County is still missing.  We continue to identify and return the remains from other wars.  We all served knowing that no man would be left behind."


Every year an enormous house-sized pile of wood is stacked at the end of Myers Point.  Moran acknowledged the Town of Lansing and the Myers Park staff for hosting the watchfire each year, and Cargill Salt for providing a large bucket loader to stack the wooden palettes for the fire.  But the main focus was on those American service people whose fate is still unknown.


"It is their sacrifice that brings us here tonight, said featured speaker Major Nina Saeli.  "This event is an affirmation of their importance and how they should be remembered.  Our presence is a tribute to their legacy."

Saeli is retired from the US Army Medical Service Corps.  She is currently Tompkins County's Public Health Preparedness Coordinator.  She is the first woman asked to speak at the watchfire in its 24 years.

"A legacy is something that is left behind," Saeli said.  "It is the sum total, not just of a person's property and their possessions.  It is also the echoes of their being carried in our hearts and our thoughts and our remembrances of their deeds and actions.  it is their lives writ large in the thoughts of all who knew, recall and think of them that form their legacy.  It is those who are left behind that struggle with the burden of their absence that most define this legacy."


A granite bench was dedicated at this year's ceremony, facing the location of the podium used each year for the watchfire ceremony on the Myers Park basketball court.  The bench was donated by the Vietnam Veterans of America chapter 377 and the New York State Route 38 Vietnam Veterans Memorial Highway Valor Sign fund, who previously placed a granite bench at the Cortland Memorial Park.  Both benches have 'Freedom is not free.  It's a tribute to those who have served' engraved in them.


As the ceremony ended and the sun set, the fire was started.  A long line of members of the Sons of Union Veterans at Sydney Camp 41, the Cornell University ROTC Brigade, and the Civil Air Corp Patrol, and civilians formed to throw wood on the fire.  More than 2,500 U.S. flags were honorably retired in this year's fire, to comply with U.S. code Section 8 that says, 'The flag, when it is in such condition that it is no longer a fitting emblem for display, should be destroyed in a dignified way, preferably by burning.'

"National POW Day and the POW/MIA flag were established to show our nations concern and commitment to resolving the fate of US personnel who were prisoners of war, missing in action, or unaccounted for in southeast Asia," Moran said. 

5 American servicemembers are still reported as Missing in Action from the Vietnam War and thousands more from other wars during the 20th Century.

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