JOINT BASE ANDREWS, Md. –
Commemorating the 33rd anniversary of National POW/MIA Recognition Day, members of the Air Force Sergeants Association's Chapter 102 hosted a 24-hour POW/MIA Vigil Run Sept. 19, and a POW/MIA Remembrance Ceremony Sept. 20.
More than 120 Department of Defense members had the opportunity to carry the POW/MIA Flag around the Virginia track for its journey. The POW/MIA Remembrance Ceremony in Suitland-Silver Hill, Md., marked the end of the vigil run and the final destination for the POW/MIA Flag.
Master Sgt. Eric Hall, 779th Dental Squadron dental laboratory flight chief, took the lead in organizing the run. Hall said his personal motivation was his wife's great grandfather, who was declared missing in action during World War I.
"Everybody has really embraced it, to have so many people want to drop what they're doing and [to] come out and honor [the prisoners of war or those missing in action]," Hall said.
The only rule during the vigil run was the flag must remain in motion while on the track. It was held high by the various squadrons, couples, families and friends who participated.
At the conclusion of the vigil run, member of the Chapter 20 Green Knights Military Motorcycle Club drove the flag to the remembrance ceremony where retired Col. Norman A. McDaniel was the guest speaker.
In 1966, McDaniel, a former Air Force electronic warfare officer, was shot down over North Vietnam and captured as a POW. In 1973, McDaniel was released from captivity and returned home to American soil.
McDaniel thanked the Airmen for all they do, and challenged those in attendance to continue to remember those that have paid the ultimate sacrifice for freedom.
Throughout his speech, McDaniel hit on themes of keeping one's faith through adversity and avoiding future mistakes by learning from the past.
"Let me tell you, some of the deprivations, some of the trials, and some of the torture and harassment that I suffered in the Vietnam prison camps and that some of my prisoners experienced go way beyond what Norman McDaniel feels he could have endured on his own," McDaniel said. "It was just by the grace of God, his strength that gave me strength to take just a little more torture; to hang in there just a little bit longer; to continue to resist the enemy; to stand up for my nation and my fellow prisoner."