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September 19, 2009
Former POWs honor the missing at breakfast
By CAROL COMEGNO
Courier-Post Staff
Six men
in different military uniforms marched to a table, circled it and then
stood at attention as bagpipes played a somber "Amazing Grace."
They
never sat down but instead placed a service hat on the black place
settings in front of them with the chairs remaining empty.
The
table and the hats serve d
as memorials for members of the five U.S. branches of the service and also
for civilians who became either p risoners
of war or were declared missing in action in various wars or conflicts.
This
Missing Man Table ritual was the emotional highlight of the 8th annual
POW/MIA Recognition Ceremony breakfast attended by 568
veterans, active duty military, family members and others and which was
sponsored by Assemblyman Jack Conners, D-Camden, at the Merion Caterers on
Route 130.
A dozen
POWS from different eras attended the breakfast and were recognized Friday
on National POW/MIA Day of Remembrance, but they all had received medals
previously.
 The
two state POW/MIA recognition medals awarded Friday were given
posthumously to family members of World War II Army POW Joseph Muoio of
Scotch Plains and Oscar Mauterer, a missing pilot from Union who was shot
down over Laos in 1966.
"Emotions run high because you realize you are representing -- in my case,
the Navy -- all the men and women lost from that service," said retired
Navy captain Walter Urban of Medford, who served as one of the six honor
guards for the ceremony.
"You are
honored to represent such a distinguished group that we owe so much to;
each branch had its share of sorrow and losses throughout the wars our
country has fought."
Aubrey
Slimm Jr., 89, of Moorestown, one of the 12 ex-POWs at the ceremony and a
retired RCA truck driver, said the event is a chance to "look back and to
also see other people who've been there like you."
Slimm
was a sergeant, a waist gunner and a POW during World War II who was
captured after his bomber, a B-17, crashed in Germany in March 1944. After
being shifted from one prisoner of war camp to another, he said he was
liberated in May 1945 from Stalag Luft IV in Gross Tychow, Poland.
"I
always thought I would survive and we were fortunate we were used as
forced labor," Slimm said. "The worst part was being shipped from camp to
camp."
He said
the food was "lousy," mostly German dark bread and birdseedlike cereal
that resulted in his weight dropping from 180 to 118 pounds.
Al
Rodesky of Oaklyn, another table honor guard at the Missing Man Table,
said those still missing in action or captured and never returned need to
be found and their remains repatriated back to American soil.
"I
believe that those unaccounted for deserve closure for their families and
by continual public awareness like this we make sure they are not
forgotten.
The
Department of Defense has an ongoing mission to find and identify remains,
said Tony Halas of West Deptford, emcee and ceremonial chairman for the
POW/MIA awareness Committee of Camden and Gloucester counties.
"The DOD
is working hard to bring back those left behind and spending 40 to 60 days
at a time in the field," he told the audience.
Halas
said six more soldiers from across the U.S. were brought back on Sept. 2,
further reducing the number of POW/MIA's from the Vietnam War to 1,731.
The figure was initially 3,600 for that war, which started more than 40
years ago.
He
encouraged attendees to "go out and tell somebody what you've seen here"
today,
Since
World War I nearly 100,000 military personnel have been either prisoners
of war or missing in action, according to defense department figures, with
78,000 in World War II alone.
Assemblyman Jack Conners, the sponsor of legislation that created the
state POW/MIA medal, said he is amazed at how the event has grown in
attendance from 90 the first year to nearly 600. Others there attributed
it to a greater display of patriotism since 9/11 and the start of the Iraq
war.
Conners
said POW/MIAs have endured conditions "most of us would prefer not to
think about" and their loved ones have faced "immeasurable" grief.
"The
courage of both must never be forgotten, and I am proud to hold this event
to bring awareness to their sacrifices."
Joseph
O'Donnell of Robbinsville, another former POW from World War II, was in
the same war camp in Germany as Slimm after also being shot down in a
B-17, but was then forced to march for 86 days over 600 miles across that
country to another camp in western Germany.
"I
attributed my survival to positive thinking and the fact that we were
Americans! I considered myself the arrogant airman," chuckled O'Donnell,
85, who spent a year in captivity. "The British used to say we were "over
here, overpaid and oversexed.' "
Reach Carol Comegno at (609) 267-9486 or
ccomegno@courierpostonline.com
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