[Congressional Record Volume 143, Number 146 (Monday, October 27, 1997)]
[Senate]
[Page S11221]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                   WYOMING'S POW/MIA RECOGNITION DAY

  Mr. ENZI. Mr. President, I rise today to recognize the action of my 
State's Governor in proclaiming September 19, 1997, as Wyoming's POW/
MIA Recognition Day. I believe such a proclamation to be wholly 
appropriate in light of the fact that over 2,000 Americans are still 
missing in Vietnam, Cambodia, and Laos, and over 8,000 on the Korean 
Peninsula. These men gave their last full measure in causes whose 
worthiness is rendered more secure with every passing year of 
historical distance. Though the same can be said of all who sacrificed 
so, we often forget the sacrifice of those who have no headstones to 
call to us each memorial day. Hence the importance of efforts such as 
Governor Geringer's, which remind the Nation of our continuing and 
unfulfilled responsibility to account for the remains of these men for 
the sake of their families and our national conscience. I am reminded 
of something written half a century ago:

       The universe is so vast and so ageless that the life of one 
     man can only be justified by the measure of his sacrifice.

  That passage was in a young Royal Air Force pilot's last letter to 
his mother before his death during the Battle of Britain. I commend 
Governor Geringer for his proclamation and I urge the President to 
intensify his efforts at retrieving the remains of America's missing in 
action. In their sacrifice they proved their measure. America owes them 
this small debt.
  There being no objection, the proclamation was ordered to be printed 
in the Record, as follows:

                        Governor's Proclamation

       Two thousand one hundred sixteen Americans are still 
     missing and unaccounted for from the Vietnam War, and their 
     families, friends and fellow veterans still endure 
     uncertainty concerning their fate. Six are listed from 
     Wyoming.
       U.S. Government intelligence and other evidence confirm 
     that the Government of Vietnam could unilaterally account for 
     hundreds of missing Americans, including many of the 454 
     still missing in Laos and the 76 still unaccounted for in 
     Cambodia, by locating and returning identifiable remains and 
     providing archival records to answer other discrepancies.
       The President has normalized relations with Vietnam and 
     believed that such action would generate increased unilateral 
     accounting for Americans still missing from the Vietnam War, 
     and such results have not yet been provided by the Government 
     of Vietnam.
       Wyoming calls on the President to reinvigorate U.S. efforts 
     to press Vietnam for unilateral actions to locate and return 
     to our nation remains that would account for hundreds of 
     America's POW/MIAs and records to help obtain answers on many 
     more.
       For these significant reasons, I, Jim Geringer, Governor of 
     the State of Wyoming, do hereby proclaim September 19, 1997, 
     to be ``POW/MIA RECOGNITION DAY'' in Wyoming, and encourage 
     all citizens to observe this day with appropriate ceremonies.
       In witness whereof, I have hereunto set my hand and caused 
     the Great Seal of the State of Wyoming to be affixed this 
     22nd day of August, 1997.
                                                     Jim Geringer,
                                                         Governor.




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