Prisoners of War

"My dedication to this sacred duty
is total and wholehearted.
In the responsibility bestowed on me
never will I falter.
And with dignity and perseverance
my standard will remain perfection.
Through the years of diligence and praise
and the discomfort of the elements,
I will walk my tour in humble reverence
to the best of my ability.
It is he who commands the respect I protect.
His bravery that made us so proud.
Surrounded by well meaning crowds by day
alone in the thoughtful peace of night,
this soldier will in honored glory rest 
under my eternal vigilance."
-The Sentinel's Creed

He marches the same path no matter the time of day. It is poetry in motion as his relief joins him and mirrors his movements. Sunrise. A new day, but his measured steps never falter. On this Prisoner of War/Missing in Action Day, the sentinel guarding the Tomb of the Unknown Soldiers in Washington, D.C., probably recalls that creed as he guards the national monument that memorializes all the Soldiers, Sailors, Airmen and Marines who were left behind. Meanwhile in New Orleans, Marines of Marine Forces Reserve formed up for a POW/MIA Day formation run Sept. 17. The Crescent City Marines were led by a Marine carrying the POW/MIA flag instead of the regular unit guidon. On August 10, 1990, the 101st Congress passed U.S. Public Law 101-355, which recognized the POW/MIA flag, designated it as the "symbol of our Nation's concern and commitment to resolving as fully as possible the fates of Americans still prisoner, missing and unaccounted for in Southeast Asia, thus ending the uncertainty for their families and the Nation." Throughout the country, Marines paused to remember the more than 130,000 servicemen that were left behind. Marines from the 25th Marine Regiment in Worchester, Mass., participated in a POW/MIA vigil at the state house in Boston Sept. 25. "The Marines formed a POW/MIA platoon," Maj. Timothy E. Hoehn, inspector-instructor, Headquarters Co., 25th Marines, said. Each Marine was assigned a name of a POW/MIA from the Massachusetts area. Once the name was called, the Marine would come to attention, say "Missing in action," and fall out of formation. Each service repeated the actions during the ceremony until every name had been called off and no one was left in formation. The sun sets as another sentinel takes his place at the Tomb of the Unknowns. The ever-present pride in what he does as his heels click and break the silence of the sacred place like distant gunshots. He guards the monument for all those Americans whose fathers, mothers, sons, daughters, sisters, brothers, husbands and wives never made it home. A biblical verse echoes through the cemetery around the Tomb. "Refrain your voice from the weeping and your eyes from tears; for your work shall be rewarded, and they shall come back from the land of the enemy. There is hope in your future; that your children shall come back to their own border," Jeremiah 31:16-17.

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