Members of Westfield’s Veteran’s Council, Veterans Services Director Julie Barnes, state Sen. John C. Velis and Mayor Donald F. Humason Jr. honor National POW/MIA Recognition Day at Pine Hill Cemetery Sept. 16, 2020. (HOPE E. TREMBLAY/THE WESTFIELD NEWS)
WESTFIELD – City natives Philip W. Atwater, Norbert F. Brady, Edward F. Gintowt and Joseph A. Gryszkiewicz are among Westfield’s missing in action remembered today on National POW/MIA Recognition Day.
Gene Theroux, Westfield graves office, commander of the Sons of the American Legion Squadron 124 and Vietnam-era veteran, said National POW/MIA Recognition Day is an observance that honors prisoners of war (POW) as well as those who are still missing in action (MIA). It is observed in the United States on the third Friday in September. Theroux said National POW/MIA Recognition Day was proclaimed by the United States Congress in 1998 and President Donald Trump signed the National POW-MIA Flag Act in November 2019, which requires the POW/MIA flag displayed whenever the U.S. flag is displayed on prominent federal buildings.
Aviation Machinist’s Mate 2nd Class Philip W. Atwater was serving aboard the aircraft carrier U.S.S. Yorktown, assigned to Torpedo Squadron 5, Task Force 58, when it was lost over the Marshall Islands on Jan. 29, 1944, just weeks before his 23rd birthday. His remains are unaccounted for to this day. His memorial is at the Missing in Action or Buried at Sea Memorial Cemetery in Honolulu.
An American flag is placed at Pine Hill Cemetery at the cenotaph for Westfield native Phillip W. Atwater who went missing in action in 1944. (HOPE E. TREMBLAY/THE WESTFIELD NEWS)
He is also honored at the Atwater family plot in Westfield’s Pine Hill Cemetery where members of the Westfield Veterans Council met at his cenotaph Sept. 16. Theroux said there are more than 58,000 service members’ names engraved in the Vietnam Wall in Washington DC, many who were POWs and MIAs.
“Of those 58,000, approximately 1,500 are still listed as missing in action,” Theroux said.
Flags were placed at Atwater’s cenotaph this week and Theroux and state Sen. John C. Velis spoke during the brief ceremony.
Velis said that growing up, honoring the city’s current military and war dead was always important.
“We don’t forget, here in Westfield, to honor our veterans,” said Velis, a major in the U.S. Army Reserve and a veteran of Operation Enduring Freedom, having served in Afghanistan.
Velis said the treatment of Vietnam veterans is something he considers a dark mark in America’s history.
“When they returned, they were spit on; my era of veterans were treated as heroes,” he said. “Vietnam veterans don’t get the respect they deserve.”
Velis then thanked those Vietnam veterans present Wednesday for their service.
Theroux said Brady, machinists mate 3rd Class, was aboard the U.S. Navy U.S.S. Samuel B. Roberts when it sank in the Battle off Samar on Oct. 25, 1944, in which a relatively small force of U.S. warships prevented a vastly superior Japanese force from attacking the amphibious invasion fleet off the large Philippine island of Leyte.
Gintowt was aboard the U.S.S. Helena on Dec. 7, 1941 and is missing from the Battle of Kula Gulf on July 6, 1943. Gryszkiewicz was a member of the U.S. Navy and went missing at sea Jan. 8, 1944 in the Pacific Ocean.
According to Theroux, there are still 1,586 Americans listed as missing and unaccounted for from the Vietnam War. More than 1,500 families are still seeking answers. He said Resolution 288, adopted at the 67th National Convention of The American Legion, and Resolution NC 2094, adopted at the 23rd National Convention of the Sons of The American Legion, calls for designating a POW/MIA Empty Chair at all official meetings of the Sons of The American Legion, as a physical symbol of the thousands of American POW/ MIAs still unaccounted for from all wars and conflicts involving the United States of America.
“This is a reminder for all of us to spare no effort to secure the release of any American prisoners from captivity, the repatriation of the remains of those who died bravely in defense of liberty, and a full accounting of those missing. Let us rededicate ourselves to this vital endeavor,” Theroux said, noting that the Westfield Senior Center and The Arbors at Westfield both have POW/MIA Empty Chair displays.
