Veterans’ Memorial at Meetinghouse Park in Farmington. Franklin Journal photo by Nicole Carter

FARMINGTON —  Members of local veterans’ groups gathered on Friday to remember prisoners of war and service men and women missing in action at Meeting House Park on Main Street.

Gordon Webber, Commander of the James A. McKechnie Veterans of Foreign War Post, led the ceremony and read from excerpts recounting the day in 1973 when 112 Marine and Navy pilot prisoners of war were released from the “Hanoi Hilton” during Operation Homecoming.

“These men received fresh clothes,” Webber said, standing with the traditionally set Table for One. “For the first time since each of them had been shot down they saw daylight. It was the first time they saw Hanoi, for they had only flown over it during their respective missions. These airmen were brought to three C-141 aircraft, each emblazoned with red crosses to signify a peaceful mission. And they all cheered as the planes left the ground, and Vietnam.”

Webber then announced the names of American service members who had been recovered or identified in August and spoke of how DNA made it possible for Vietnam War pilot Lt. j.g. Neil Brooks Taylor of Rangeley to be returned home for interment. Taylor’s plane crashed on Sept. 14, 1965, in southern Vietnam and his remains were recovered by U.S. military personnel in 2013. He was identified in late 2014 and laid to rest in Rangeley on September 14, 2015, 50 years to the day after his death.

Katie Smith sings the National Anthem at Farmington’s National POW/MIA Recognition Day ceremony on Sept. 20. Franklin Journal photo by Nicole Carter

The traditional table for one has been used to symbolize prisoners of war and missing servicemen since the end of the Vietnam War. Franklin Journal photo by Nicole Carter

Members of Farmington’s VFW Post and Roderick Crosby American Legion Post No. 28 attend National POW/MIA Recognition Day on Sept. 20. Franklin Journal photo by Nicole Carter