[Mil.com] Military veterans from throughout Northeast Florida came together to honor comrades in arms who were prisoners of war or missing in action, and remember their sacrifice.A salute to an old comrade Steve Leopold, 1LT 5th Special Forces who spent nearly 5 years in the Hanoi Hilton. I hope and pray he is still among us.
A standing-room-only crowd that including former prisoners of war, as well as the families of those missing in action, and Gold Star families wept, hugged and prayed together during a solemn ceremony marking the groundbreaking for the total, estimated $82 million National POW/MIA Memorial & Museum.
The first of its kind, the memorial and museum is being built at 6112 POW-MIA Memorial Parkway, at Cecil Commerce Center, which is the former Naval Air Station Cecil Field jet base on the Westside of Jacksonville.
Cecil Field POW/MIA Memorial, Inc., a nonprofit organization, is leading the multi-phase memorial and museum project.
"Our mission is to honor all former prisoners of war; remember and never forget those missing in action heroes and the families who seek their return," said Mike Cassata, organization executive director.
The memorial and museum is being built on 26 acres.