Gone, but not forgotten

Houlton Pioneer Times Photo/Gloria Austin
RAISING THE FLAG — United Vets Motorcycle members, from left, Steve Graham, Anthony ‘Jughead’ Benn and Bob Wright change the POW/MIA flag during last Sunday’s remembrance ceremony in Monument Park.
By Gloria Austin
Staff Writer
    On a balmy October day, under a beautiful, sunny, blue sky, the roar of motorcycles echoed through Market Square, as the United Vets Motorcycle Club came to a pause at Monument Park on Broadway Street for their annual POW/MIA/KIA Remembrance Day last Sunday.
    Paul Graham, UVMC president, welcomed those in attendance and called the American Legion Color Guard to post the colors.
    Brent Patterson, director of Chapter 15 Caribou Legion Riders, explained the history behind the POW/MIA flag and then Pastor Steve Straubel, the club chaplin, opened the ceremony in prayer.
     He prayed for “soldiers who responded to the call of their nation to serve not knowing that they would be captured” and a “safe return of each and every soldier” who is still a prisoner.
    Allison and Peter Roy sang “Final Full Measure of Devotion” before UVMC’s Bob stepped forward to read the “Pledge of Allegiance,” with additional commentary.
    “I pledge allegiance to the flag (I am an American, I was a Prisoner of War, I have served my country. I need no one to tell me what allegiance I owe my flag, to my country, to my home); “of the United States of America” (This is my country, I fought for it, I have been in prison for it, and many have died for it); “and to the Republic for which it stands,” (This flag stands for me; for love of my country, for love of my family, for the love of my friends; and I did not forsake it when I was starved, when I was beaten, or when some were killed); “one Nation under God indivisible,” (I am one man. I have one country, America. I worship one God and under God I was captured. Under  God I was saved. Under God I have no fear.); “with liberty and justice for all.” (My allegiance is to liberty and justice. My flag represents the best of myself, my effort, my home and my country. I will Pledge Allegiance to the Flag. I will pledge under the love of God. It is my right, my privilege, my duty, I have earned it. Tell me not how. I have given much. I am an ex-prisoner of war, take nothing more of me. I Pledge Allegiance to the Flag of my country.)
    David Pond, a Vietnam combat veteran and a UVMC member, read a brief piece for the POW/MIA.
    POW/MIA so many fates are left unknown and so many rumors that abound,
    So many families ask the question, when will the answers be found;
    So many years have come and gone, sometimes hope is hard to keep,
    There are some who feel there is none, and in some it is very deep;
    The pain that is in not knowing, how to put loved ones to rest,
    When there is no way to prove, they have passed the final test;
    But no matter what the answers, we can’t let this cause alone,
    Until each and every one of them, is found and brought back home.
    In a solemn stillness, Graham explained the meaning of the “Table for One.”
    “A table has been set across America in mess halls in military events for almost 30 years,” he said. “A little known tradition to the outside civilian world.” During the Vietnam War, the “Table for One” became a symbol and remembrance to service members held POW or MIA, he said.
Houlton Pioneer Times Photo/Gloria Austin
TAPS — Butch Riley plays “Taps” on the bugle during Sunday’s  ceremony after the changing of the “POW/MIA” flag.
    “Solidarity and solemn is at the table where no one will ever sit,” said Graham.
    After the Roys sang the Armed Forces medley, Graham began reading the names of local soldiers Killed In Action, starting with “In memory of Harry McGuire III, born 1947, KIA Vietnam 1967.” McGuire’s mother, Josephine, was presented flowers, a hanging with a Gold Star and a moving salute.
    Memorial Patches with the following names were recognized: Weston Langley, born 1948, KIA Vietnam 1969; Dustin James Harris, born 1984, KIA Iraq 2006; Jonathan Lowery, born 1969, KIA Iraq 2007 and James Zimmerman, born 1985, KIA Afghanistan 2010.
    After the roll was called, the United Vets Motorcycle members Steve Graham, Wright and Anthony “Jughead” Benn changed the POW/MIA flag and once it was raised, the American Legion Honor Guard fired a salute and Butch Riley played TAPS on his bugle.
    Debbie Bechard followed with “Amazing Grace” and Pastor Straubel gave the benediction, “pausing to remember and be thankful to the men and women in uniform.”
    After the ceremony, Ethan Hunt and his mother Kirsten Hunt of Houlton thanked McGuire for her son’s service to our country.
    “It’s really hard,” she said of losing her son. “It’s been 45 years since he’s been gone. I will never forget him … never.”
    McGuire said she has had her son in her prayers over the years.
    “I think of him so much,” she said. “At nighttime, I ask the Lord to hug him and give him a big kiss for me.”
    Harry McGuire joined the U.S. Army in October of 1966, shortly after graduating from high school.
    “He begged us to let him go,” recalled his mother. “I said to my husband, ‘No. I don’t want him to go. But, he said, ‘This is what his wish is and we’ve got to let him go.’ So, I did.”
    McGuire was in Vietnam just two months “to the day,” said his mother, as she weeped for her son.
    “Those were the saddest days of my life,” she added.
    Then, she paused and thought of the others.
    McGuire was 20 years old when he was killed on a mission.
    “He never had a chance,” his mother said tenderly. “He wrote to me every day.”
    McGuire’s mother worried he didn’t have enough to eat, but he gently chided his mother “I eat the same as the rest. Don’t worry about me. I get enough to eat.”
    The McGuires sent their son a package that included Kool-Aid, since the water was too bad to drink, along with writing paper, stamps and other items.
    “He never got my box,” his mother said tearfully. “And, it never came back. They just sent me his belongings (which included a radio) which I still have.”
    McGuire told his mother not to feel bad for him, he was doing what he wanted.
    “All I have to do is two years and I will be back home, Momma,”  She sadly recalled his words.