April 6 ceremony to honor POWs

  • Published
  • By Bud Cordova
  • Nucleus writer
KIRTLAND AIR FORCE BASE, N.M. --  "We are compelled to never forget that while we enjoy our daily pleasures, there are others who have endured and may still be enduring the agonies of pain, deprivation and internment."

So reads the Prisoner of War and Missing in Action ceremony script.

A ceremony honoring former POWs and service members missing in action is set for 11 a.m. to noon April 6 at the Raymond G. Murphy VA Medical Center in the Education Building, Building 39. The New Mexico Veterans Affairs Health Care System is hosting the celebration to honor 69 former POWs.

April 9 is National Former Prisoner of War Recognition Day. The former-POW advocate and a committee plan the celebration for the Wednesday before April 9 to avoid conflicting with the former-POW celebration in Santa Fe and to enable former POWs to attend both ceremonies.

The honor ceremony at the VA hospital is open to the public. It features Col. Kenneth Nava, chief of staff, New Mexico National Guard, as the guest speaker.

"It is incredibly important for our society to never forget the sacrifice of our former POWs and I am personally very humbled every time I have the opportunity to meet one of them," Nava said.

Nava said that the former POWs provide current and former members of the armed forces examples of never accepting defeat. For Nava it is an honor to be representing Brig. Gen Andrew Salas, the adjutant General of New Mexico, at the event.

The branches of the armed services will present the POW/ Missing in Action table. The table represents the hardships people in those positions have endured. The table is small and draped in a white cloth, set with the glass turned upside down and a slice of lemon on the bread plate sprinkled with salt.

The ceremony takes a moment to remember the former POWs who have died in the previous year. In 2015, 13 former POWs died.

The majority of the former POWs being honored at the ceremony are from World War II and the Korean War. Several Vietnam former POWs are scheduled to attend as well.


After the honors ceremony, a luncheon for the former POWs will allow visiting dignitaries to meet them.


Trudi Valdez, VA advocate for former POWs, said working with them was an honor and a wonderful experience.


"I wouldn't change it for anything, getting to know them," she said. "I have truly developed a deep relationship with all the former POWs while acting as their advocate."


For more information, call Valdez at 256-2774.