‘We Remember Our Own’
Good morning.
My name is Christopher Garcia, a US Army Veteran and proud member of the American Legion, where I have the privilege to serve as the Commander for the 13th District, Department of Texas.
It is a genuine honor to be invited here to Sheppard Air Force Base and to stand before you today for this ceremony.
And it is an honor that I don’t take lightly. Today is about the Americans who answered the call to serve their country and, for one reason or another, never made it home.
Those of us who have worn the uniform understand something that can be difficult to explain to those who have not. When you put on the uniform, you become part of something larger than yourself. You become responsible for the person standing next to you.
In the Army, we call them our Battle Buddy; you call them Wingmen. You learn to trust people you’ve just met. No matter what their background may be. You learn that when things get difficult, you can’t simply think about yourself. You think about your team. You think about your brothers and sisters in uniform. And one of the most fundamental promises we make to one another is this: We do not leave our people behind.
That promise doesn’t have an expiration date. It doesn’t end when someone takes off the uniform. That is what makes POW and MIA remembrance so important. There are men and women whose stories did not end when their aircraft went down, or when their unit lost contact with them, or when they failed to return from a mission.
Their stories continued. They continued in the lives of their families. They continued in the memories of their Wingmen or their Battle Buddy. They continued in the records and photographs kept by families who refused to let their loved ones become just another name. And they continue here. Today.
Because we remember them. For some families, remembrance has meant decades of uncertainty.
Imagine not knowing. Not knowing exactly what happened to someone you love. Not having the certainty of bringing them home. Not being able to stand at a gravesite and say goodbye. Instead, they live with questions. Waiting, hoping, and wondering. That is a burden that most of us can hardly comprehend.
And yet, generation after generation, those families have carried it. That is why the POW/ MIA flag means so much. It is a reminder that our country has not forgotten. That our military has not forgotten. And that we, as service members, as Veterans, and as Americans, have not forgotten. The words on the flag are simple: You Are Not Forgotten
Those words carry an enormous responsibility. Because remembering isn’t simply something we do once or twice a year. It is a commitment. A commitment to remember those who are still missing. A commitment to remember those who endured captivity. A commitment to remember the families who waited and in too many cases, continue to wait today. The American Legion has made that commitment part of its mission for generations.
As District Commander, I am proud to represent an organization that believes remembering our missing and our prisoners of war is not just a ceremony or a tradition. It is an obligation… Today, I don’t want us to think only about the numbers. I don’t want us to think only about conflicts, dates, or statistics. Because every POW and every MIA is a person. They have a name. They have a family. They have people who love them. They have friends who know them. They had plans for what they were going to do when they came home. And someone, somewhere, is still carrying the memory of that person.
That is what I want us to remember today. There is another reason ceremonies like this matter, especially here at Sheppard Air Force Base. Many of the young men and women serving today will never know the names of the people we remember. They may never know their stories. But they are now part of the same tradition of service.
They are carrying the same flag. And they now carry the same responsibility that generations before them carried. That responsibility is bigger than any one person. It is the responsibility to serve something greater than yourself. And it is the responsibility to remember those who served before you. Someday, the Airmen standing here today will become the veterans who tell the next generation what service meant to them.
And I hope one of the things they carry forward is this: We remember our own.
We remember those who came home. We remember those who came home carrying wounds that weren’t always visible. And we remember those who never came home at all.
So today, as we are gathered here, I ask you to think about that empty place at the POW/MIA table. Not simply as an absence. But as a reminder. A reminder that someone should be here. A reminder that someone served. A reminder that someone was loved. And a reminder that our promise remains.
You are not forgotten.
And we will continue to hold onto the promise that we made to every person who ever put on this uniform: We do not leave our people behind.
May God watch over our POWs and MIAs. May He watch over the families who have carried their absence. God bless our service members. God bless our Veterans. And may God bless the United States of America.