Navy Families Pay Heartfelt Tribute to Fallen Heroes at POW/MIA Recognition Day Ceremony

The National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific was the somber setting for a heartfelt ceremony on September 20, 2024, where families honored 2,503 fallen service members. The event, part of the National POW/MIA Recognition Day, featured the placement of bronze rosettes next to the names of those whose remains had been recovered and identified. Hosted by the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency (DPAA), the ceremony commemorates the enduring search for American service members who were prisoners of war or declared missing in action.

The ceremony included the reading of 132 names—service members who had been identified and returned to their families since the previous year’s observance. Among the poignant stories were those of Cdr. Danforth Ellithorpe White, Lt. Ralph Eugene Foulks Jr., and Lt. Cmdr. Frederick Peter Crosby, whose families shared their journeys of loss and closure.

Cdr. Danforth Ellithorpe White, a reconnaissance pilot on the USS Enterprise, went missing during a mission over Laos in 1969. His daughter, Marda White Turman, was unborn when he disappeared. The DPAA’s excavation in 1997 provided Turman with her father’s remains, and she was able to bury him with honors at Arlington National Cemetery. “It’s important to let people know these service members have been brought home,” Turman reflected. “Our men and women fight to protect our freedom, and it’s the least we can do to honor them.”

Lt. Ralph Eugene Foulks Jr. flew the A-4 Skyhawk and was declared missing in action after an attack mission in 1968. His sister, Collen Ijuin, recounted the family’s long wait for closure, which finally came 25 years later with advanced DNA testing. Despite identifying her brother’s remains, Ijuin remains haunted by the mystery of his final moments. “I wonder all over again—what happened to my brother,” she said.

Lt. Cmdr. Frederick Peter Crosby’s mission in 1965 ended tragically when his plane was shot down over North Vietnam. His daughter, Deborah Ann Crosby, was deeply moved by the discovery of her father’s remains in 2015, made possible by an eyewitness to the crash. “Being in the laboratory yesterday was really kind of remarkable,” Crosby shared. “It’s been an amazing healing event, even if there’s no real closure.”

Keone J. Nakoa, senior advisor for the White House Asian American and Native Hawaiian Pacific Islander initiatives, emphasized the ongoing commitment to recovering MIA service members. “President Biden continues to honor those who served and sacrificed,” Nakoa stated. “This includes the more than 81,000 personnel still missing. They are not, and will never be forgotten.”