POW/MIA Luncheon reinforces honor, loyalty and ethics

  • Published
  • By By Staff Sgt. Danielle Jinkens
  • 55th Wing Public Affairs
OFFUTT AIR FORCE BASE, Neb. --  Former Vietnam prisoner of war Lt. Col. (ret.) Barry Bridger spoke to Team Offutt Sept. 23 in an emotional and enlightening memorial to all American prisoners of war, past, present and future, and military members listed as missing in action.

Bridger joined with former POWs from World War II, the Korean War and the Vietnam War, along with surviving family members of those who are no longer with us, at a POW/MIA luncheon to spread the messages of hope, solidarity and honor they learned during their painful experiences.

Among the nine former military members represented at the luncheon was the family of Spc. Donald Grella who fought in Vietnam and whose remains were returned to the United States in 2006 after being listed as MIA since 1965.

The luncheon included a presentation of the POW/MIA table by the Offutt Honor Guard and a reading of The Loneliest Prayer.

"As I squat here in this lonely place, a man maybe even you forgot, I wonder am I living in hell. Am I alive or not?" read Master Sgt. Nicholas Melenka, 55th Security Forces Squadron, during the luncheon.

"It is a distinct honor for me to join with you good people in this commemorative luncheon to pay tribute to America's POWs, but especially to our missing in action from all of our nation's wars," Bridger said. "The right of our nation's citizens to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness rests heavily on the sacrifice and faithful service of these good and decent Americans."

Bridger specifically used his experience as a POW during the Vietnam War as a stark example of the experiences of prisoners of war throughout history. Through grim anecdotes and personal insights, he explained how American values and the honor of our service members remained untouched in even the most desperate of circumstances.

"America's Vietnam prisoners of war quickly learned that the desperate, crushing environment of a POW camp can destroy the mind and the body but it cannot touch the values of a good heart and spirit," he said. "America's Vietnam prisoners of war, indeed all of our prisoners of war, have walked into the dungeons and black nights of their life with [the values of our ancestors enshrined in the Constitution] and they brought us home with honor."

Despite countless torture sessions, both physical and psychological, not a single legitimate piece of military intelligence was delivered to their captors, Bridger added. Propaganda was acquired only after grueling sessions that left bodies broken. Even then, many opportunities to embarrass the enemy and tell the world the truth were taken despite the consequences.

"There are many individual reasons you might choose to resist exploitation," Bridger explained. "But rest assured that any one you would select would have been a derivative of American culture, American virtue, American values. When we lost everything we possessed, we ended up with that which was profoundly the most important to have. And that was the good duty to care for one another."