Anderson, SC, Veterans' motorcycle club honors POWs, those missing in action

OFF THE WIRE
BY: Kirk Brown
Source: independentmail.com
ANDERSON — A veterans’ motorcycle club visited a Moose lodge in Anderson on Saturday to solemnly raise a flag honoring troops who are prisoners of war or missing in action.
As spectators watched in silence, the black-and-white POW-MIA banner was placed beneath the American flag and hoisted skyward by South Carolina and Georgia members of the Vietnam Vets/Legacy Vets Motorcycle Club.
Before the flag-raising, the veterans took part in a symbolic ceremony inside the Loyal Order of Moose Lodge 2018, which is on S.C. 24 near the Anderson Regional Airport. The ceremony focused on a small table featuring a red rose in a vase and a slice of lemon placed on a single plate.
Dale Norman, who is a member of the veterans’ motorcycle club, said the table was set for one to commemorate “the fact the members of our armed forces are missing from our ranks.”
“They are unable to be with us, so we join together to pay our humble tribute to them and bear witness to their continued absence,” said Norman, who is known in the motorcycle club by his nickname Taipan.
“A single red rose in the vase symbolizes the blood they shed and the sacrifice to ensure the freedom of our beloved United States of America,” Norman said. “The slice of lemon reminds us of their bitter fate.”
“Let us remember and never forget their sacrifice,” said Norman, a Vietnam veteran who lives in Concord, N.C. “May God forever watch over them and protect them and their families.”
Members of the veterans’ motorcycle club said Saturday’s ceremony and flag-raising served two important purposes.
Displaying the POW-MIA flag builds awareness about military personnel who are unaccounted for, said Clyde Murray, a Vietnam veteran and Moose lodge member from Anderson.
“Our job is to bring our brothers home,” Murray said.
A total of 83,918 members of the nation’s armed forces are classified as missing in action, according to the Defense Prisoner of War Missing Personnel Office. That total includes 74,064 from World War II, 8,021 from the Korean War and 1,708 from the Vietnam War.
Norman said the event Saturday also “helps to create more camaraderie between all veterans.”
Vaughn Terrell, a Moose lodge member from Anderson who also served in Vietnam, said many members of the local lodge are veterans.
The flag-raising “means a lot to me and our members,” Vaughn said.
The Loyal Order of Moose is an international fraternal organization that supports charitable causes. The Anderson lodge has paid for a local boy to attend a Moose-sponsored school in Chicago for at-risk youth. The lodge also pays for the student to fly home at Christmas.