Legionnaire inspires POW/MIA Memorial in Florida
World War II POW J. Francis Angier reads about the "Bring Me Home" memorial before the start of the POW/MIA Memorial dedication at Veterans Memorial Park in Tampa, Fla., on April 9, 2016. Photo by Chris Zuppa

Legionnaire inspires POW/MIA Memorial in Florida

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When plans started to come together for a new POW/MIA Memorial at the Hillsborough County Veterans Memorial Park in Tampa, Fla., friends say it was no surprise that Don Denny jumped right in.

“It was typical of Don to volunteer. Over 10,000 hours volunteering in the VA, countless hours in all the veterans’ organizations he belonged to,” said Fran Harrison.

“Don did an awful lot of work over at Bay Pines (VA Healthcare System),” said Grant Raulerson, who like Denny was, is a Korean War veteran and member of The American Legion Turner Brandon Post 7 in Clearwater, Fla. “We would get together and just help out where we could.”

Denny, who died in 2012, had a personal stake in creating the POW/MIA Memorial — he was a POW himself, imprisoned for 27 months in North Korea. And so it’s his face on the memorial statue, a likeness of a soldier behind barbed wire, pleading for his release.

The memorial was dedicated Saturday as part of National Former Prisoner of War Recognition Day, an annual event whose April 9 date stems from the Bataan Death March in World War II. A similar event, National POW/MIA Recognition Day, takes place each year on the third weekend in September.

Denny, Raulerson and Post 7’s former chaplain, Vietnam veteran Gordon Mauldin, formed a “band of brothers” whose service is also recognized with a plaque at the memorial’s base.

“We went to a lot of ex-POW funerals, did a lot of ceremonies,” Mauldin said.

Saturday’s event drew hundreds to the park to pay their respects to Denny and the thousands of others who were prisoners of war or missing in action while defending their country.

“Today, more than 83,000 Americans remain unaccounted for from World War II, the Korean War, the Cold War, and the Vietnam War,” said Ret. Lt. Gen. Michael Linnington, director of the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency and one of Saturday’s keynote speakers.

The agency’s mission “is to provide the fullest possible accounting for our missing personnel to their families and the nation,” a promise Linnington personally shared with another speaker, Pam Cain. Her father, Col. Oscar Mauterer, was shot down over Laos in February 1966, and he’s never been found.

Cain praised those who have served and sacrificed for their country. “You have done remarkable things, and are remarkable individuals. I am not so remarkable. My experiences cannot equal what you stand for, what you have done and your many accomplishments,” she said. “It is a special day of dedication for others. For the family of Don Denny, returned POW from Korea, the hero whose face is so vividly and poignantly depicted in this statue. For those who worked so hard to see this beautiful and moving POW/MIA Memorial come alive. For the many who work tirelessly to keep America mindful of POWs and MIAs, and support the POW/MIA mission.”

Raulerson said events like Saturday are important.

“I want (people) to know why they were there; I want them to appreciate what they’ve got,” he said. “And so many people don’t care.”