Remembrance reinforces mission

  • Published
  • By Staff Sgt. Ken Salgat
  • 920th Rescue Wing Public Affairs
PATRICK AIR FORCE BASE, Fla. --  To know that there are men and women who will put their lives on the line to bring you back at any cost when you go to war is the best insurance policy, said Tech. Sgt. Scott Anderson, a gunner with the 920th Rescue Wing's 301st Rescue Squadron here.

"That's our position," he said. "And that's the position of everyone I know in the squadron."

So were the sentiments that resounded throughout the Rescue Wing on POW/MIA Recognition Day today, September 17, 2010 -- a day of remembrance and hope for the speedy and safe return of American Prisoners of War and of those still Missing in Action. It also seeks the return of the remains of fallen soldiers to U. S. soil.

The first official commemoration of POW/MIAs was the result of a resolution passed in Congress in 1979. On July 18 of that year, a nationally recognized event was held to recognize these military members, and over the next several years it was held on varying dates. It was not until 1986 that The National League of Families proposed the third Friday in September as a day to recognize and remember POW/MIA military members. Each year, the president of the United States issues a proclamation on this day to remind Americans that there still is work to be done to bring our fallen and unaccounted for home.

This was not always the case.

Combat Search and Rescue, which is the primary mission of the 920th RQW, has its roots in late World War I, the 1920-30s, and the build-up of World War II prior to Dec. 7, 1941, according to holidayinsights.com. The advent of large American bomber, fighter, and transport fleets operating worldwide forced a requirement on the U.S. Army Air Force to organize a program designed specifically to the combat search and rescue (CSAR) of crashed or downed airmen on an international scale.

Later, during the 10-year Vietnam conflict, CSAR came into its heyday. Hundreds of U.S. fixed-wing aircraft were lost to ground fire during the war, and multiple rescues worldwide of civilians and military personnel occurred, further defining, in essence, the CSAR mission, itself.

Prior to a training mission aboard a wing CSAR helicopter, an HH-60G Pave Hawk, Tech. Sergeant Scott Anderson, an aerial gunner crew member, carries a torch for these rescue ancestors in the form of the POW/MIA patch he wears on his helmet.

Although they will not be flying with weapons today, as an aerial gunner, Sergeant Anderson's job is to operate airborne weapons systems and perform pre-flight, in-flight and post-flight maintenance and inspections of aircraft guns, defensive systems and related aircraft equipment. In the 920th's helicopter squadron are deployed often and it is expected they will remain active in the immediate and foreseeable future.

All this seems fine to Sergeant Anderson.

"Rescue was in its heyday then and it was the job of CSAR crews to ensure those pilots didn't become POWs," said Sergeant Anderson.

As one of the most deployed Reserve units in the nation,

Sergeant Anderson, who added the POW/MIA patch to his flight helmet, said he wears the patch to state his position on the issue: Service members have the best insurance policy; these things we do, that others may live.

Service members still MIA - 83, 923, WWII through Desert Storm, according to Defense Prisoner of War/Missing Personnel Office.