THE WHITE HOUSE
Office of the Vice President
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For Immediate Release Contact: Matt
Gobush
Friday, September 15, 2000 (202)
456-7035
STATEMENT BY THE VICE PRESIDENT
The nation pauses on National POW/MIA Recognition Day to reflect on
the heroism of tens of thousands of Americans who endured the hardship of
enemy confinement, and those whose fate in time of war remains unknown.
Today, some 88,000 of our fellow citizens are missing in action from World
War II, the Korean War, the Cold War and the Vietnam War.
Throughout every state of the union, Americans will fly the somber
POW/MIA flag from federal, state and local government buildings. It will
fly at national and military cemeteries. We will see it at veterans'
posts, on top of schools and hospitals and in front lawns. And we will
know that this nation has not forgotten its obligation to former POWs and
those who are still missing in action.
Patriotic ceremonies and speeches will commemorate this day. But for
some, especially the families of our missing, the war is never over. Their
loved ones are still unaccounted for.
Our commitment remains steadfast. They did not fight for us to forget,
and this nation never will. Wherever it takes us, for as long as it takes
us, we will bring them home.
We will bring them home today at Hickam Air Force Base, Hawaii, when
we return to American soil the young men who gave their lives in defense of
freedom some 50 years ago in the Korean War. We also honor today at
Arlington National Cemetery the life of one Navy flier who made the
ultimate sacrifice in Vietnam.
God bless them and God bless America.
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