MERCER COUNTY Vietnam vets plan vigil for missing

Mercer County has one pilot still listed as missing in action in Vietnam.
By HAROLD GWIN
VINDICATOR SHARON BUREAU
MERCER, Pa. -- There may be some who have forgotten about America's soldiers unaccounted for during wartime, but the Mercer County Vietnam Era Veterans Association remembers.
The group has been having a 24-hour vigil each year in January, to mark the signing of the Paris Peace Accords, which were to mark the end of the American ground force involvement in Vietnam and the beginning of an exchange of those listed as prisoners of war and missing in action.
This month marks the 31st anniversary of that peace agreement.
Wayne Stratos, chairman of the veterans group, said the United States has lived up to its side of the agreement but there is ongoing evidence that Vietnam hasn't.
As many as 2,000 Americans are still unaccounted for from that war, and some of them were known to be alive at the time of their capture, Stratos said.
Information is still being monitored related to those cases, he said, pointing out that the government said there are more than 100 unresolved cases from Vietnam that are strong enough to have active, ongoing investigations.
There is still hope, Stratos said, noting the public is still reading about South Korean soldiers from the Korean War escaping from North Korea today.
Local man missing
One of those missing is Army Capt. Maurice E. Garrett Jr. of West Middlesex who disappeared when the helicopter he was flying crashed into a mountain in South Vietnam on Oct. 22, 1971.
The body of his co-pilot was found, but Garrett never was.
The annual vigil, which has drawn up to 100 people in the past, goes far beyond the Vietnam War.
Stratos said it's also for the 78,000 missing in action from World War II, the 8,100 missing from the Korean War and the 35 missing from Desert Storm.
Veterans groups from Meadville, Pittsburgh and Ohio are expected to turn out again for this year's event, which begins at 9 p.m. Friday and ends at 9 p.m. Saturday.
The vigil will be on the east side of the Mercer County Courthouse next to the Vietnam Veterans Memorial.
There will be a short ceremony at 7 p.m. Saturday featuring a number of speakers.
Stratos said U.S. Reps. Phil English of Erie, R-3rd, and Melissa Hart of Bradford Woods, R-4th, are tentatively scheduled to attend.
State Sen. Robert Robbins of Greenville, R-50th, a Vietnam veteran, has attended most of the vigils, but he has a commitment in Harrisburg on Saturday morning and bad weather could prevent him from getting back to Mercer County to attend this year.
gwin@vindy.com