National POW/MIA Recognition Day honored at Back Mountain Harvest Assembly

Leah O’Boyle, the daughter of a U.S. Marine Infantry veteran Ed Zimmerman, who served in Vietnam, monitors the watch fire.

https://www.mydallaspost.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/09/web1_pow5.jpgLeah O’Boyle, the daughter of a U.S. Marine Infantry veteran Ed Zimmerman, who served in Vietnam, monitors the watch fire.

Dave Cuba, a coordinator of the Remember Our Veterans Memorial Committee at the Harvest Assembly Church, said this is the third year for the watch fire and POW/MIA Remembrance ceremony at the Back Mountain Harvest Assembly Church in Trucksville.

https://www.mydallaspost.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/09/web1_pow4.jpgDave Cuba, a coordinator of the Remember Our Veterans Memorial Committee at the Harvest Assembly Church, said this is the third year for the watch fire and POW/MIA Remembrance ceremony at the Back Mountain Harvest Assembly Church in Trucksville.

Ed Zimmerman, Bear Creek, a U.S. Marine Corps veteran, announced the remains of two of his fallen Marine Corps friends were located and scheduled to be recovered next year.

https://www.mydallaspost.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/09/web1_pow3.jpgEd Zimmerman, Bear Creek, a U.S. Marine Corps veteran, announced the remains of two of his fallen Marine Corps friends were located and scheduled to be recovered next year.

Matt Cuba, Dallas, tends to an all-night Watch Fire at the Back Mountain Harvest Assembly in Trucksvillle where a ceremony was held as part of the National POW-MIA Recognition Day.

https://www.mydallaspost.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/09/web1_pow2.jpgMatt Cuba, Dallas, tends to an all-night Watch Fire at the Back Mountain Harvest Assembly in Trucksvillle where a ceremony was held as part of the National POW-MIA Recognition Day.

Members of the Daddow-Isaacs Post No. 672 Dallas American Legion Riding Club lead a parade from Frances Slocum State Park to the Back Mountain Harvest Assembly in Trucksville. A ceremony followed to honor National POW-MIA Recognition Day.

https://www.mydallaspost.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/09/web1_pow1.jpgMembers of the Daddow-Isaacs Post No. 672 Dallas American Legion Riding Club lead a parade from Frances Slocum State Park to the Back Mountain Harvest Assembly in Trucksville. A ceremony followed to honor National POW-MIA Recognition Day.

KINGSTON TWP. — For nine years, Vietnam veteran Ed Zimmerman searched for two fallen comrades.

They have been found, he said.

His announcement came Sept. 18 during a National POW/MIA Recognition Day ceremony at the Back Mountain Harvest Assembly Church on Carverton Road in Trucksville.

The news received applause from a crowd of nearly 50 people.

National POW/MIA Recognition Day is held on the third Friday in September, said Dave Cuba, coordinator of the Remember Our Veterans Memorial Committee at the Back Mountain Harvest Assembly Church.

This is the third year the Back Mountain church held a ceremony to honor the memories and sacrifices military personnel make.

The hour-long ceremony began with lighting a watch fire on the hillside of the Back Mountain Harvest Assembly’s property. A somber ceremony of music and prayer followed.

The watch fire location marks the future site of a Remembering Our Veterans Memorial. The “living memorial will consist of a watch fire circle and landscaped area to honor all the POW/MIA from all U.S. wars and conflicts,” Cuba said.

Watch fires were traditionally lit on a mountain or at the mouth of a river to regroup military troops after a battle, Cuba said.

“Today, we use it to spiritually guide POWs and MIAs,” Ray Petts, pastor of the Back Mountain Harvest Assembly, said.

There are 73,515 missing-in-action soldiers from the Korean War; 7,841 from Vietnam; 1,626 from the Cold War; and 126 from Iraq and other conflicts, said John Tasco, a Vietnam veteran from Lehman.

“With hearts full of love, families carry on with an unfillable void, and we stand beside them — one and all — acutely aware of the cost at which our liberty comes,” Tasco said.

Special speaker Zimmerman, of Bear Creek, served with the U.S. Marine Corps for four years during the Vietnam War.

He worked with Joint POW/MIA Accounting Command (JPAC) since 2006 to locate the area where his friends, Anthony Pepper of Virginia and James Trimple of California, are buried in Vietnam.

The process was not easy and consisted of a lot of paperwork and many challenges, including having JPAC deactivated this January.

Last summer, Zimmerman and JPAC representatives traveled to Vietnam to find the location of his two friends’ remains.

The group found the area where the two MIAs are buried.

“Next year, an archaeological dig is planned to recover their remains and bring them home,” Zimmerman said.

Zimmerman was happy when he heard the news reached Pepper’s sister, his only surviving family member.

“She was amazed to hear he was found,” Zimmerman said. “We have a sacred obligation to recover MIAs and POWs.”