Retired Army Col. Ward B. Nickish discusses the importance of recovering the remains of long-missing American veterans during a speech at the Stonersville Fire Company on Saturday.
Wading through swamps, rappelling down cliffs and hiking through thick jungles, U.S. troops go to extremes to recover the remains of long-missing American veterans.
On Saturday, retired Army Col. Ward B. Nickish, a former commander of the Joint POW/MIA Accounting Command, came to Stonersville to talk about that mission, and the nation's commitment to bringing home its fallen troops.
For those who wonder why the military would spend so much effort, time and money to recover the remains of those who died so long ago, it's all explained in the fourth pillar of the U.S. Army Code to which every soldier swears, Nickish said.
"I will never leave a fallen comrade," it states, and Nickish said each branch of the military adheres to that.
"That's true on the battlefields of today as well as the battlefields of decades gone by," said Nickish of Gainesville, Va.
Nickish's visit to the Stonersville Fire Company social quarters was arranged by the Berks County Chapter of the National POW/MIA Forget-Me-Nots Inc., and followed POW/MIA Recognition Day, which was Friday.
About 40 attended the program.
Vietnam War veteran Bernie Bingham of Earl Township, executive director of the local Forget-Me-Nots chapter, believes there are still living MIA's from the war who must be found.
But those who died are also worth locating, not only to give their loved ones closure, but because of the debt the nation owes them.
"You can't give more than what they gave," Bingham said.
Nickish slowed slides of dramatic locations where the recovery teams have searched, often risking their lives. The work ranges from archaeological digs to CSI-style analysis of bones, often with the help of locals hired for the mission.
That painstaking labor often pays off, with dozens of remains discovered each year.
Nickish talked of how meaningful it is for families to receive word that their loved ones' remains were found.
Still, there are more than 83,000 Americans missing from past conflicts, so the work goes on.
"We have a commitment to find them," Nickish said.
Contact Mike Urban: 610-371-5023 or email@example.com.