Townsend to honor prisoners of war with vigil Friday

TOWNSEND » In observance of National POW/MIA Recognition Day on Friday Townsend VFW Post 6538 and its Auxiliary will conduct a Candlelight POW/ MIA Ceremony on the Townsend Common at 6:30 p.m.

The day is an opportunity to honor prisoners of war and those who went missing in action, from all branches of the nation’s armed services.

Organizers of the Townsend vigil said it is also an opportunity “to remind area residents that we must continue to push for a complete accounting of all those still missing in action and those held against their will.”

Friday’s vigil will especially pay tribute to 39 Massachusetts residents who are still unaccounted for in Southeast Asia following the Vietnam War.

To show your concern for those who are still missing and unaccounted for, the Townsend VFW Post and its Auxiliary ask

you wear a red ribbon.

“By displaying a red ribbon, wearing a POW/MIA bracelet, or flying a black POW/MIA flag beneath the American flag, citizens show that they will not be satisfied until all Americans being held are released, the fullest possible accounting is made of the missing, and the remains of those who died serving this nation are returned,” organizers said.

VFW Post #6538 and its Auxiliary said they feel these citizens and their families “deserve nothing less.”

According to the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency, an agency within the Department of Defense, more than 81,600 Americans remain missing from World War II, the Korean War, the Vietnam War, the Cold War, the Gulf War and subsequent conflicts.

National POW/MIA Recognition Day started in 1979 with a proclamation by President Jimmy Carter. Since Carter’s proclamation, each subsequent president has issued a proclamation marking the third Friday in September as National POW/MIA Recognition Day.

Throughout this year, Townsend has demonstrated an ongoing commitment to members of the armed services. In July, the town showed appreciation for veterans of the Vietnam War by bringing a threequarter scale replica of the Washington, D.C., Vietnam War Memorial known as The Wall That Heals to North Middlesex Regional High School.

In August, Townsend officially joined neighboring communities in becoming a Purple Heart Community.