POWs & MIAs honored at special ceremony at Palm Springs Air Museum
People all over the country gathered to recognize prisoners of war and those missing in action. The Palm Springs Air Museum hosted a special ceremony Friday evening honoring the men and women who bravely served.
“You almost gave up, but there was no other way. You just have to keep on putting one foot after another. You were in very weak condition after the four months. You got one slice of bread a day for every day of the four months. One slice of bread about three-fourths of an inch thick. So we were pretty emaciated when we got through but it was worth it,” said Richard Thomas, a POW during World War II.
At 100-years-old, Richard Thomas is one of the few WWII POWs alive to tell his story. Thomas marched in the ‘Battle of the Bulge’ in what he describes as one of Germany’s coldest winters.
“It’s hard to express, but the buddies that I left behind, mostly, it hurts to think about it, but for them to remembered like this is just fantastic,” Thomas recalled.
Thomas was remembered at the inaugural POW and MIA recognition event at the air museum. Alongside him was Tom Kirk.
“I says, ‘Oh my god, I’m a prisoner of war and I’m blind,” Kirk said.
Kirk was held prisoner at a North Vietnam prison camp for 5 and a half years. He was shot down during a dive bomb run, his parachute landed in enemy territory.
“I’m shot down, I’m very badly injured. No one saw me get out. My family don’t know if I’m alive or dead, and I failed my country. That was what I felt and I wanted to die. There was no question, I just wanted to die. Then one day I stomped my foot on the ground and said dammit I’m here, I can’t change it, I can’t do a thing about it, no one cares, I’ve got to dig deep and find the strength and the will and determination, and someday I’ll go home,” Kirk said.
Kirk returned home in 1973.
But unfortunately, that wasn’t the case for some, like Jenny Connell’s husband, James Connell, who was also a POW during the Vietnam War.
“I knew when they shot him down, they released his picture and they said, ‘We have this criminal,’ that’s what they called him and I didn’t know until the guys were released that he had died. It makes you realize what you are able to overcome,” Jenny said.
Two widows, one of a POW and one MIA, were recognized and received medals of honor in their husband’s place.
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