‘Michigan Remembers’ its POWs, MIA at ceremony

NOVI — People from across southeastern Michigan gathered in front of the “Michigan Remembers” POW/MIA Memorial Sept. 20 at Oakland Hills Memorial Gardens in Novi to remember those soldiers who have yet to make it home.

“Today marks the 45th annual observance of National POW/MIA Recognition Day and the 38th anniversary of the ‘Michigan Remembers’ POW/MIA Memorial,” said Debbie Pineau McClain, president of the POW Committee of Michigan. “We gather today to remember the heroism and sacrifices made by tens of thousands of Americans who endured captivity in enemy hands as well as those whose fate remains unknown.”

The ceremony opened with the presentation of colors by the Veterans of Foreign Wars Heart of the Lakes Post 1008 followed by a performance of “The Star-Spangled Banner” by the Novi High School Choir.

The ceremony included speeches by descendants of those missing in action. This included Tony Soma, whose cousin, Major Martin J. Massucci, of the U.S. Air Force, has been missing in action since Oct. 1, 1965; Bruce Johnson, whose father, Lt. Col. Bruce G. Johnson, of the U.S. Army is missing in action since June 10, 1965; and Pineau McClain, whose uncle, Roland Robert Pineau, went missing in action on Oct. 8, 1967. She said his remains were returned and buried with military honors 40 years later.

Soma spoke of how he is often reminded of Massucci in his day-to-day life. He said every morning he puts on a bracelet with his cousin’s name on it. His computer screen saver bears his cousin’s picture, and Soma is working on the family genealogy.

“The reminders are endless. But what do you do about it? How do you handle it?” Soma said.

Soma recalled his last memory of Massucci, who was 15 years Soma’s senior and went missing when Soma was just 11. Soma said his cousin was on leave and they had a family gathering at his house. Soma described his cousin as being “larger than life” with a “big personality” and “great sense of humor.”

Soma said he joined the POW Committee of Michigan in 1997 and has been staying updated on his cousin’s case from the Defense Department.

“So now what? Well, we do what we’ve been doing for the last 59 years. We keep learning, we stay updated. We never forget and we never give up,” said Soma.

Johnson recalled how his mother, Bonnie Johnson, who had three children under 4 at the time of his father’s disappearance, became a leader and a board member of the National League of  POW/MIA Families. He said his mother was even involved in the creation of the POW/MIA flag. He said she hung on to hope that his father was alive for a long time.

“You remember that day when all the prisoners (of Vietnam) were released and flown to the Philippines? Well I do. I can remember that as each one got off that plane, we sat around the television with the cameras on them. ‘Is that him?’ ‘Could that be him?’ And when no one was left and the planes were empty, we realized, in full sadness, he was not coming back,” Johnson said. “It was a complicated grief, that not knowing and yet that deep hoping.”

He said that his father went missing when he was just 5 years old and that 13 years later they received the “long-awaited” determination that his father was presumed killed in action.

“To this day I miss him and his presence in our lives,” Johnson said. “I still pray for the day that his remains along with the six other men lost on that fateful day may be returned from foreign soil.”

Johnson said it has been a “blessing” to come to the “Michigan Remembers” POW/MIA Memorial over the years and vicariously participate in the movement of men lost and missing to those who have been found and identified on the memorial wall.

“It’s such a beautiful gift and such a beautiful hope for all of us. It is truly a sacred moment and one so deeply precious to each of us with a loved one still missing,” he said. “On behalf of my family, I thank you for your remembrance, even to this day, for my father Lt. Col. Bruce Johnson and all the men still listed as unaccounted for. May their souls even now rest with God.”

Johnson then shared that although his father’s remains have yet to make it home, his father’s Bible, with notes in the margins, was returned to him.

“Even though my dad never came back, one of the greatest gifts I’ve ever had in my life was the return of his Bible,” Johnson said as he held up the Bible for all to see. “All these years as a young man growing up through the years, I’ve been able to read the things that he wrote in the margin of his Bible and see the places that he underlined. And even though he’s been gone, even to this day his remembrance and his life lives on in my life.”

The ceremony concluded with a presentation of wreaths and a roll call of all those listed as prisoners of war or missing in action from Michigan. After each name was read, a bell was rung. The VFW post then gave a 21-gun salute and Tod Reber, who served in the U.S. Navy Reserves during the war in Afghanistan, played taps.

 

Marty Eddy honored by National League of POW/MIA Families
During the event, Sue Scott, from the board of the National League of POW/MIA Families, presented Marty Eddy, the league’s Michigan coordinator and secretary for the POW Committee of Michigan, with an award for her distinguished service to the league and the cause. The award is presented to someone for “continuous dedication and significant contributions to achieving the fullest possible accounting for America’s POW/MIA’s”.

“I’m so honored to be able to acknowledge all of your service,” Scott said. “I can’t even mention everything that she’s done, but she has supported so many of us over the years.”

Scott said Eddy is always available to talk. She is currently helping Scott with an education project for the National League of POW/MIA Families. She also said Eddy has done a great deal of research for the League.

Scott said the award, is one of the League’s highest honors and was originally supposed to have been presented to Eddy at the League’s annual meeting this summer, but as Eddy was unable to attend, they chose to surprise her with it during the POW/MIA Recognition Day event.

“I’m so surprised, but I am so humbled to be able to receive this award from the National League of POW/MIA Families,” said Eddy.

She said she made a commitment that started when she was 14, after a family friend was taken as a prisoner of war in October 1963 during the Vietnam War. She said the friend was later released in November 1967. Since then, she has had a great deal of “touchstones” in her life relating to the POW/MIA cause. She said that while working in retail, one of the store managers had a son who had been shot down in April 1967 and who was not among those who came home during Operation Homecoming. His remains were repatriated in 1985.   

Eddy said she learned of the POW Committee of Michigan through a newspaper ad in 1982 and has been involved with the organization ever since.

“To me, there is no higher calling and I will do my utmost to support the mission, to support the families, to work for the fullest possible accounting for as long as I am able, for the National League of Families, for the POW Committee of Michigan, for everyone who is still unaccounted for and for the veterans who still await the return of their comrades.”

Eddy said that it was such an honor that she was “almost” speechless, which she said doesn’t happen often.

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Vietnam War unaccounted for personnel from Michigan
• Allard, Richard Michael
• Anderson, Warren Leroy
• Austin, Ellis Ernest
• Beckwith, Harry Medford III
• Boltze, Bruce Edward
• Buckley, Louis Jr
• Carroll, Patrick Henry
• Chapman, Rodney Max
• Cline, Curtis Roy
• Crossman, Gregory John
• Cudlike, Charles Joseph
• Dailey, Douglas Vincent
• Dix, Craig Mitchell
• Feneley, Francis James
• Gauthier, Dennis Lee
• Green, Larry Edward
• Greiling, David Scott
• Groth, Wade Lawrence
• Hill, Robert LaVerne
• Holman, Gerald Allan
• Jarvis, Jeremy Michael
• Jerome, Stanley Milton
• Johnson, Bruce Gardner
• King, Donald Lewis
• Klimo, James Robert
• Klugg, Joseph Russell
• Kooi, James Willard
• Leonard, Marvin Maurice
• Marvin, Robert Clarence
• Massucci, Martin John
• May, Michael Frederic
• Nelson, James Raymond
• Paul, James Lee
• Perry, Otha Lee
• Riggs, Thomas Frederick
• Roberts, Richard Dean
• Seablom, Earl Francis
• Stroven, William Harry
• Stuifbergen, Gene Paul
• Tromp, William Leslie
• Tyler, George Edward
• Walker, Kenneth Earl
• Wallace, Michael John
• Welch, Robert John
• Woloszyk, Donald Joseph
• Worcester, John Bowers
• Wozniak, Frederick Joseph
• Wright, Arthur