Vigil keeps POW, MIA soldiers in mind

Veterans and others vowed to continue the annual vigil.
By HAROLD GWIN
VINDICATOR SHARON BUREAU
MERCER, Pa. -- Vince Darcangelo thinks the government's shift in focus to identifying the remains of soldiers missing from the Vietnam War instead of looking for live prisoners is a mistake.
"When you concentrate on identifying remains, you take your eye off the ball," said Darcangelo, of Hermitage, as he stood next to a barrel of burning wood outside the Mercer County Courthouse in subfreezing temperatures Saturday.
Darcangelo, a member of the Mercer County Vietnam Era Veterans Association Inc., was taking part in a 24-hour vigil that began at 7 p.m. Friday and ended with a brief ceremony at 7 p.m. Saturday.
The veterans group has been holding the vigil for 20 years, timing it to coincide with the 31st anniversary of the signing of the Paris Peace Accords that marked the end of American involvement in the Vietnam War and the beginning of an exchange of prisoners of war.
Darcangelo said the recent emphasis on identifying remains of Americans from that war has taken precedent over efforts to find some who may still be alive.
Some still alive?
It's possible that some still exist, he said, pointing out that four South Korean soldiers were repatriated from North Korea just last year after being imprisoned since the Korean War in the 1950s.
"The emphasis has gone to the identity of bones instead of pursuing live prisoners," Darcangelo said, adding, "That's why we're out here."
Ken Marx, vice president of Rolling Thunder Inc. Chapter 4 in Pittsburgh, has been coming to Mercer each January for the last four or five years to participate in the vigil.
Rolling Thunder's main function is to publicize the POW-MIA issue and to educate the public that many American prisoners of war were left behind after all past wars, not just in Vietnam.
"They have the right to walk the land they defended or be buried in it," said Marx, 62, who served with the Pennsylvania National Guard from 1962-68.
He supports House Bill 402, which would prevent normalization of relations with Laos, a country that claimed to have "tens of tens" of American POWs at the end of the Vietnam War.
Normalization would be a death sentence for any prisoners because they would no longer be needed, he said.
"We know there are people out there," said Harold Gruber, 56, of Greenville, a member of an Army security unit in Vietnam in 1968.
One of the 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 in 1971.
Garrett was a friend of his wife's, who grew up in West Middlesex, Gruber said, vowing to come back each year for the vigil "as long as there are prisoners."
Mothers at vigil
Julia White of Pulaski, a member of the Blue Star Mothers (women whose children have served in the military), has been to all 20 vigils and said she normally spends some time around the burn barrel on the courthouse lawn.
She was joined by Marie McConnell of West Middlesex, another Blue Star Mother.
"We are praying and hoping there will be no more POWs and MIAs," White said.
Wayne Stratos, chairman of the Mercer County Vietnam Era Veterans Association, said about 2,000 Americans are still unaccounted for from Vietnam, but there also are 35 missing from Desert Storm, 8,100 from the Korean War and 78,000 from World War II.
"The vigils will continue. These families aren't getting closure," said his wife, Sue. "We won't forget."