Nevadans asked to 'Never Forget' MIA/POWs at Capitol Building ceremony

Nevadans paid tribute and remembered those missing in action and prisoners of war in a ceremony Friday on the Plaza of the Nevada State Veterans Memorial.

In a ceremony officially proclaimed POW/MIA Recognition Day in Nevada by Gov. Brian Sandoval, it was noted that more than 100,000 Americans have been unaccounted for in military operations spanning from WWI to present.

The ceremony was hosted by the Vietnam Veterans of America Carson Area Chapter 388. Member of the Carson High School NJROTC presented the color guard. Chapter 388 members presented the "Missing Warrior Table and Honors Ceremony."

Caleb S. Cage, Director of Military and Veterans Policy for the State of Nevada, remarked following the ceremony that it is important that Americans and Nevadans never forget those missing in action and prisoners of war.

"We've asked — especially during previous wars when we've had a draft — members of our country to put themselves at great risk. We've asked families to go without mothers, fathers, sons and daughters, brothers and sisters for some period of time and sometimes they don't come home," said Cage. "I think we owe them that memory. We owe them the knowledge of that sacrifice and the legacy of that sacrifice. We also need to remember them so that we can appreciate the cost of wars and know exactly what the costs are for families and members of our country so that if we decide to go to them in the future we can reflect on the costs of them."

To families of POW/MIA's, the years spent not knowing where loved ones are often deeply personal and tragic.

For Dayton resident Doreen Portch, it was the circumstances of her father, a U.S. Air Force tech sergeant serving in the Vietnam War who was never found, that personalized Friday's ceremony.

The last known whereabouts of Sgt. Melvin Holland was March 11, 1968 in an area of Northern Laos during the height of the Vietnam War. Holland was on special assignment, the kind of operation that is not written down publicly because it was not something that was not supposed to exist.

On March 10, 1968, Portch's father had written a letter to her mother Ann. The next day he was never heard from again. Ann Holland received the letter several weeks after she learned he was missing.

Portch was seven years old at the time. Forty-five years later, the family, which includes Portch and four siblings, still don't know what happened to him.

Portch notes that her mother has been the one to lead the family in the search, having fought with the Department of Defense to get answers that to this day remain vague. Nothing definitive yet, but there have been some accounts of what may have happened to her father.

Portch explained that the area where her father was at the time he disappeared, along with 10 other men, had been kept a secret by the military because American servicemen were not supposed to be in Northern Laos. Melvin Holland was officially made a civilian during the operation, discharged from the U.S. Air Force in early 1968.

Years later, Portch's mother would learn that the operation, called "Project Heavy Green" located at an area called Lima Site 85, had been overrun by enemy forces. Two separate reports indicate that all the men missing did not die. One report suggests that at least one of the 11 was captured, and another indicates that six were captured. The fact that Lima Site 85 existed was declassified in 1983 and information about it continues to be ambiguous. Holland was listed in 1973 as as "Killed in Action/Body Not Recovered" but the family suspects that he was one of the men captured and may have been sent to a Russian prison.

"Families like my family still have someone missing. We have no closure. We don't have anywhere to go for things like his birthday or Father's Day," said Portch following the ceremony. "All of my Dad's brothers and sisters are from Washington state. We go and we visit their grave sites. But we can't do that with my dad. I think people don't realize not only how much he's missed — but how much we've missed by him not being here."

In a moving address by Carson City Mayor Bob Crowell, himself a veteran of the Vietnam War and retired Navy Captain, he echoed the sentiments of Portch and thousands of families like hers.

Though the phrase is often repeated, the words "Never Forget" are the only two that truly fit in at the Nevada State Capitol in Carson City at 11 a.m. Friday, Sept. 20, 2013.

Mayor Crowell's remarks:

More than 73,000 from WWII
More than 7,500 from Korea
2489 from Vietnam
More than 120 from Cold War
And Bowe Bergdahl from the Iraq/Afganistan War

It is rather staggering to think that so many of our service men and women remain unaccounted for.

It is the price of war. It is the price of freedom.

But that doesn't make it any easier to accept that so many who fought for our country and our way of life remain missing or captured.

It is particularly distressing for the families of those missing — families who have been denied their rightful sense of closure and unity.

As a community we fly the POW/MIA flag over City Hall. It will remain there until we account of every last soldier, sailor or airmen sent into battle to do the heavy lifting for all of us.

And just as we should never forget those who lost their lives fighting for our country, it is equally important that no matter how much time passes, we must never forget the sacrifices of those unaccounted for and their families.

Our military personnel represent all that is good in our country and indeed the world. By remembering and recognizing the sacrifices of those missing in action, we pay tribute to their families.

We pay tribute to all members of our military services that we send in harm's way.

We pay tribute to our country and our way of life.

We remember what it means to send our military to war.

And we let our troops know that as a nation we will go the ends of the Earth and the end of time to make sure that we leave no serviceman or woman on the battlefield.

So today we say a prayer for the safe return of all of service men and women and a prayer that we will always keep the home fires burning until the last person missing in action is accounted for and brought home.

To the families of those missing in action, we salute you and please know that we will never forget either you or your loved ones.

To my fellow veterans, welcome home.

In other veteran-related news in Northern Nevada, go here for a story about a Purple Heart being returned to a Dayton daughter of a WWII vet.