Rolling Thunder POW-MIA memorial coming to Killbuck

  • August 21, 2013
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The Memorial to Ohio’s Prisoners of War and Missing in Action (POW-MIA) will be available for viewing at the Killbuck Early American Days thanks to Rolling Thunder Chapter 5 of Lexington. A program to honor the POW-MIA of Ohio will begin at 2 p.m. The memorial contains the names of 137 Ohioans declared missing in action during the Vietnam War. The memorial was created by the Rolling Thunder Chapter 5 as a means of educating the public about the service members, some of who endured captivity and whose remains have yet to be recovered. “The memorial serves as a small tribute to those lost and to their families who have suffered,” said Paul Cline, Rolling Thunder Chapter 5 memorial committee chairman. The idea for the memorial first came up in 2003 when the members of Rolling Thunder saw a need to create a reminder about Vietnam era POW and those declared MIA. “We asked for donations from the community and we built the memorial wall,” said Cline. “We debuted the memorial wall on July 4, 2004 in Mt. Vernon, Ohio.” Since that time, the memorial wall has traveled all over Ohio and has even made trips to Indiana. “One of the events we are most proud of is the Gold Star Sunday held each September at Mohican,” said Cline. Gold Star Mother’s Day is observed in the United States on the last Sunday of September each year. It is a day for people to recognize and honor those who have lost a son or daughter while serving the United States Armed Forces. “We have participated in that event for the last five years.” The memorial wall serves as a source of comfort. “The public has received the wall very well,” said Cline. “While it is not as impressive as some of the larger travelling walls that honor all the dead from the Vietnam War, it does help us to remember the POW-MIA of Ohio.” In addition to the names of Ohio POW-MIA, the memorial includes their branch of service, rank, and hometown and in some cases, the date their remains were identified, returned and accepted by the family. Cline says demand for the memorial wall is high. “If we had the personnel and resources we could have it on the road every weekend,” said Cline. “Unfortunately we have to limit the places we travel to because we simply do not have enough people in the organization to make it possible. We do enjoy taking the memorial wall to places where people can see it. We are excited about visiting Killbuck Early American Days. It will be our first visit to Killbuck and we hope the people there will enjoy the presentation and the wall.” Rolling Thunder is a national organization with chapters all over the country. Their major function is to publicize the POW-MIA issue and to educate the public about the many American prisoners of war who were left behind after all past wars. They aim to help correct the past and to protect future veterans from being left behind should they become prisoners of war or missing in action. Rolling Thunder is committed to helping American veterans from all wars. The Rolling Thunder Chapter 5 of Lexington focuses on Vietnam War era veterans but keeps track of all POW-MIA from every war. Rolling Thunder is a non-profit organization operated by volunteers. Everyone donates his or her time because of the belief in the POW-MIA issue.


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