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For Immediate Release
31 August 2011
Contact(s): Eric Leonard
Phone number: 229 924-0343, ext. 201
NR11-18
National Prisoner of War/Missing in Action (POW/MIA) Recognition Day is
Friday, September 16, 2011. In honor of that day, the National Park
Service, the Friends of Andersonville, and Georgia Southwestern State
University (GSW) are hosting the 2011 National POW/MIA Convocation at 11:00
a.m. September 14 in Jackson Hall Auditorium on the campus of Georgia
Southwestern. The public is invited.
Al Agnew is this year's featured speaker. Launched from the USS Enterprise
during Linebacker II, Agnew was shot down during a reconnaissance mission
over Hanoi, Vietnam on December 28, 1972. Though he safely ejected from his
RA-5C aircraft and was not badly injured, he was captured and held until
March 29, 1973. Agnew was imprisoned for 91 days. On March 29, 1973, he was
the last POW to board the C-141 Hanoi Taxi for the return trip to the
United States. Agnew attended the Attache Course at the Defense
Intelligence Agency from January to April 1977, and from May 1978 to July
1980, CDR Agnew served as a Defense and Naval Attache to Sri Lanka. He also
served as Executive Officer of the Naval Air Maintenance Training Group at
Millington, Tennessee, from June 1983 until his retirement from the Navy on
May 31, 1986. He is a former president of the NAM-POWs veterans
organization. He now lives in Mullins, South Carolina.
The annual Convocation begins four days of area events in recognition of
National POW/MIA Recognition Day. Rolling Thunder's annual "The Ride Home"
event will bring the Vietnam Traveling Memorial Wall to the GSW campus from
Thursday, September 15 through Saturday, September 17.The wall is a
three-fifths replica of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington, D.C.
and is nearly 300 feet in length. Rolling Thunder ceremonies to remember
military service members still listed as Missing in Action and to honor
former POWs will occur on the campus of GSW or South Georgia Technical
College. More information on the "The Ride Home" event may be found at
http://theridehome.com/
The weekend of National POW/MIA Recognition Day is also a final opportunity
for the public to visit the Remember the Pueblo temporary exhibit at the
National Prisoner of War Museum. This exhibit features photographs,
textiles, and other three-dimensional items related to the 1968 capture of
the USS Pueblo. The North Koreans seized the ship and accused the crew of
spying and intruding into their territorial waters. Over the next eleven
months North Korean captors beat and tortured the crew to obtain confession
statements. The United States and North Korea were not at war at the time
so the crew was treated as criminals and not prisoners of war. The crew was
eventually freed and returned home just in time for Christmas with their
families. To this day the ship resides in Wonson harbor, North Korea.
Andersonville National Historic Site is located 10 miles south of
Oglethorpe, GA and 10 miles northeast of Americus, GA on Georgia Highway
49. The site features the National Prisoner of War Museum, Andersonville
National Cemetery and the site of the historic Civil War prison, Camp
Sumter. Andersonville National Historic Site is a unit of the National Park
System and serves as a memorial to all American prisoners of war. Park
grounds are open from 8:00 am until 5:00 pm with the museum opening at 8:30
am. Admission is free. For more information on the park, call 229 924-0343,
visit on the web at www.nps.gov/ande/, or find us on Facebook at
facebook.com/AndersonvilleNPS
- NPS -
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Eric Leonard
Chief of Interpretation and Education
Andersonville National Historic Site
496 Cemetery Road
Andersonville GA 31711
229 924-0343 ext. 201 phone
229 591-4993 cell
229 924-1086 fax
This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
http://www.nps.gov/ande/ |
