Speeches

Remarks by Ambassador Patricia M. Haslach National POW/MIA Recognition Day Observance

Ambassador Haslach delivers her remarks

National POW/MIA Recognition Day is an important opportunity to reflect on the men and women who made the ultimate sacrifice to preserve the values of our great nation. All were patriots who put themselves in harm’s way to preserve the ideals freedom and democracy held sacred by all Americans. 

Today there are 364 Americans unaccounted for in the Lao PDR, of a total of 1802 still missing from the Vietnam War. Our government is also maintaining the search for those missing from previous conflicts, including the Korean War, from which there are still 8104 unaccounted personnel; World War II with 78,000; the Cold War with more than 100; and even the one still missing from the 1991 Gulf War. One. . . a most significant number, representing a single person.  

When all the numbers of all the conflicts are broken down, we are left with the one person for whom a mother, a wife, a son and daughter waited in vain for so long before realizing there would be no welcome home celebration. Each with a face, a personality, a favorite restaurant, a favorite football team, and all the other unique attributes which made them the individuals that friends and relatives still remember. Each of these Americans who remain unaccounted-for represents a void in the memories and feelings of surviving loved ones, as well as a collective void in the national fabric that binds us all together. 

As a nation, we have dedicated ourselves to support the goal of pursuing the fullest possible accounting. LTC Owens and the staff of Detachment Three, Joint POW/MIA Accounting Command – or “JPAC” - are the face of this effort we have underway here at Embassy, Vientiane. This morning, as we gather here to reflect on our combined national loss, JPAC has teams searching for missing Americans in Croatia, France, Austria, Cambodia, Lithuania, and Italy, while other teams prepare to return to Vietnam and to come back to Laos to conduct the 96th Joint Field Activity since we began joint team operations in Laos in the mid-1980s. 

There is much work still to be done, but all Americans should be inspired by the dedicated resolve behind this ongoing effort. This considerable effort to account for each son, each daughter, each uncle, each grandfather remains a key national priority. 

So this morning, we gather together at this special time to recognize the sacrifice of those who are still unaccounted for and reflect on the void we, as a nation, still feel. |Sept. 15, 2006|