American Ex-POWS to Mark 10th Anniversary of POW Statue
‘The Liberation Moment’ is a major feature of Miramar National Cemetery
(09/03/2021) The American Ex-Prisoners of War (AXPOW), San Diego Chapter 1, will honor America’s ex-prisoners of war and commemorate the tenth anniversary of the POW statue entitled “The Liberation Moment” during a ceremony set for 11:30 a.m., Thursday, 9 September 2021, at Miramar National Cemetery.
The event is open to the public. Guests attending will be required to wear a mask in outdoor shared spaces when physical distancing cannot be maintained for unvaccinated individuals, according to VA requirements.
Sculptor Richard Becker of Poway, who created the statue, will be featured speaker. He’ll be joined at the podium by Greta L. Hamilton, Director of Miramar National Cemetery, and members of the chapter.
The POW statue depicts the exhilaration of an emaciated prisoner of war emerging from captivity. A symbolic eagle soars from the broken fence and barbed wire surrounding the prisoner.
Seals of the nation’s five armed services are embedded in the statue’s base, which also serves as a time capsule containing narratives provided by San Diego area former prisoners of war. The time capsule will be opened in 2045, one hundred years after the end of World War II.
Most members of AXPOW were prisoners during World War II, but American prisoners also were held in captivity during the Korean War and the Vietnam War. One member of the San Diego chapter was held as a child in a Japanese prison camp in the Philippines from 1942 to 1945.
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By Bill Heard, PIO