<body><div>National POW/MIA Recognition Day was observed with a ceremony at the Ocala-Marion County Veterans Memorial Park on Sept. 18, 2026, presented by Marion County Veterans Services. Upwards of 100 attendees honored those who served and sacrificed or never came home.The Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency states that more than 80,000 service members remain missing from “previous conflicts” and an estimated 38,000 are “still recoverable,” according to war.gov The day recognizing and honoring Prisoners of War (POW) and service members Missing in Action (MIA) was first designated by President Jimmy Carter in 1979, according to the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency. <figure><img src="https://img.particlenews.com/image.php?type=thumbnail_580x000&amp;url=0Bmw2N_1FJDWekl00" alt="https://img.particlenews.com/image.php?url=0Bmw2N_1FJDWekl00" width="1200" height="900" ><figcaption>Melanie Keller with the Ocala Vet Center, a readjustment counseling service for combat zone veterans and their families and victims of sexual trauma while in the military, manned a booth during the POW-MIA Recognition Day ceremony at the Ocala-Marion County Veterans Memorial Park on Sept. 18, 2026.&nbsp;[Andy Fillmore/Ocala Gazette]</figcaption></figure>Daisy Diaz, a U.S. Navy veteran and director of Marion County Veterans Services, opened the ceremony, which included the presentation “Voices of Captivity: The Poetry of Prisoners of War.” Renee Coventry, secretary for Marion County veterans’ events, organized and wrote a script for the poetry presentation. Eleven speakers associated with the Marion County Library System delivered excerpts from poems written by POWs from the Civil War, World War II and the Vietnam War. One speaker read from a POW’s heartfelt lines written while in captivity in Vietnam in 1966 about having a young child at home. The poetry readers included TJ Mack, Taylar Bensen, Jim Stroup, Jerome Azbell, Jared Brocks, Adans Felfcano, Mark Sloan, Sheldon Grant, Greg Croft, Jonathan Lithgon and Leica Baldwin.<figure><img src="https://img.particlenews.com/image.php?type=thumbnail_580x000&amp;url=40qQmR_1FJDWekl00" alt="https://img.particlenews.com/image.php?url=40qQmR_1FJDWekl00" width="1164" height="776" ><figcaption>POW poetry readers stand at the close of&nbsp;the “Voices of Captivity: The Poetry of Prisoners of War” ceremony on National POW/MIA Recognition Day at the Ocala-Marion County Veterans Memorial Park on Sept. 18, 2026. [Andy Fillmore/Ocala Gazette]</figcaption></figure>Jared Brooks read an excerpt from a poem known as “The Cremation of Sam Mc Gee,” by Robert W. Service. A presentation note with the excerpt stated that the daily sharing of the poem between POWs was a way to “sustain” the captives’ lives. “There are strange things done in the midnight sunBy the men who moil for gold;The Arctic trails have their secret talesThat would make your blood run cold;The Northern Lights have seen queer sights,But the queerest they ever did seeWas that night on the marge of Lake LebargeI cremated Sam McGee,” the excerpt read. Coventry explained that the poem did not focus on the plight of the POWs but was a poem known to a POW from his school days. Sen. John McCain was one of the Vietnam War POWs who shared the 880-word poem by way of “tap code,” which prisoners used to communicate from cell to cell, and he recalled the poem decades later, Coventry explained. <figure><img src="https://img.particlenews.com/image.php?type=thumbnail_580x000&amp;url=3DEV6m_1FJDWekl00" alt="https://img.particlenews.com/image.php?url=3DEV6m_1FJDWekl00" width="1200" height="1036" ><figcaption>Members of the Belleview High School Air Force JROTC provided a color guard&nbsp;at the “Voices of Captivity: The Poetry of Prisoners of War” ceremony on National POW/MIA Recognition Day&nbsp;at the Ocala-Marion County Veterans Memorial Park in Ocala on Sept. 18, 2026. [Andy Fillmore/Ocala Gazette]</figcaption></figure>McCain’s aircraft was shot down over North Vietnam in 1967 and he was held as a POW until 1973. His captivity included torture and illness, according to johnmccain.com Brain Lackey with Drummer for Veterans, according to the ceremony program, gave a demonstration of the “tap code” by striking two sticks together. Vietnam War veteran Jerry Arthur was at the ceremony. He served with the Army’s 1st Infantry Big Red One in artillery in 1966-67. <figure><img src="https://img.particlenews.com/image.php?type=thumbnail_580x000&amp;url=28uW4J_1FJDWekl00" alt="https://img.particlenews.com/image.php?url=28uW4J_1FJDWekl00" width="1196" height="1098" ><figcaption>Belleview High School Air Force cadets, Technical Sergeant Daisy Fessenden, left, and Lisbeth Pacheco, right perform a POW/ MIA Remembrance Ceremony, also called a POW Table ceremony, at the “Voices of Captivity: The Poetry of Prisoners of War” ceremony on National POW/MIA Recognition Day&nbsp;at the Ocala-Marion County Veterans Memorial Park in Ocala on Sept. 18, 2026. [Andy Fillmore/Ocala Gazette]</figcaption></figure>“Somebody has to remember them,” he said about not forgetting POW/MIA service members. The ceremony included a recitation of the “POW/MIA Remembrance Ceremony,” also known as the POW Table, by Cadet Technical Sergeants Daisy Fessenden and Lisbeth Pacheco of the Belleview High School Air Force JROTC. Marion County Memorial Honor Guard members provided a color guard and rifle volley. Belleview High School Air Force JROTC cadets posted and retired the colors and Chaplain Mike Nilon with Hospice of Marion County/Empath Health offered an invocation and benediction. Holly Denton, regent with the Ocala Chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution, recited the pledge of allegiance and Hannah Stuckey sang the national anthem. Music, including “God Bless America” was provided by Brittany Schofield, flutist, Eric Chandler, pianist, Drumming for Veterans, as listed in the program. Chandler also played taps. <figure><img src="https://img.particlenews.com/image.php?type=thumbnail_580x000&amp;url=2l9aVR_1FJDWekl00" alt="https://img.particlenews.com/image.php?url=2l9aVR_1FJDWekl00" width="1200" height="900" ><figcaption>Members of the Marion County Memorial Honor Guard salute during the “Voices of Captivity: The Poetry of Prisoners of War” ceremony on National POW/MIA Recognition Day&nbsp;at the Ocala-Marion County Veterans Memorial Park in Ocala on Sept. 18, 2026.&nbsp;[Andy Fillmore/Ocala Gazette]</figcaption></figure>Dorothy Antonelli of Dunnellon marked another year in a lifelong vigil to learn the final fate of her uncle who died in the Korean War and awaits the return of his remains. Peter A. Patete was killed in action in North Korea in 1950, according to an Ocala-Marion County Veterans Memorial Park monument to the then roughly 20-year-old Army sergeant. Antonelli has sought information for decades through various agencies and has visited the DMZ in Korea. “I have siblings who don’t even know about Peter Patete and I want them to know the story and not forget,” she said. “I’ll never give up.”To learn more, go to dpaa.mil</div></body>

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National POW/MIA Recognition Day was observed with a ceremony at the Ocala-Marion County Veterans Memorial Park on Sept. 18, 2026, presented by Marion County Veterans Services. Upwards of 100 attendees honored those who served and sacrificed or never came home. The Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency states that more than 80,000...

‘Somebody has to remember them’

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National POW/MIA Recognition Day was observed with a ceremony at the Ocala-Marion County Veterans Memorial Park on Sept. 18, 2026, presented by Marion Coun

‘Somebody has to remember them’

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