The city of Aurora honored National POW/MIA Recognition Day on Friday with a ceremony at Veterans Island Park.

The third annual ceremony, which included members of the Aurora Veterans Advisory Council, paid tribute to members of the American military who have been prisoners of war or who are still missing in action. Friday was also proclaimed as POW/MIA Recognition Day in the city by Mayor John Laesch.

Laesch said that POW/MIA Recognition Day and the ceremony in Aurora work to keep the “memories alive for all those who did not return, or in some instances did not return whole.”

The proclamation noted that more than 217,000 Americans have been prisoners of war in the last 100 years and that nearly 1,600 are still listed as missing from the Vietnam War, over 7,500 are still missing from the Korean War and over 72,300 are unaccounted for from World War II. The nation has a duty, the resolution said, to continue making an effort to reconcile the fate of those in the American military who are still missing.

During his speech, Laesch said the community has a responsibility to recognize these sacrifices, including those who were killed in action or who “returned less than whole,” and to find ways to support veterans, their families and “all those who suffer from survivor guilt.”

The West Aurora Junior ROTC was represented at the ceremony not only by its honor guard but also by the ceremony’s featured speaker, Scott Hellinger, who is a teacher in that program, a veteran of the Air Force and a member of the Aurora Veterans Advisory Council.

These types of gatherings are so meaningful because of the spirit and belief that responsibility is “not just to ourselves, but to each other and to future generations,” Hellinger said during his speech. It is up to parents, mentors and neighbors to show younger generations that freedom is not free, he said, and that individual success means little without a strong community.

“Freedom is not automatic. It doesn’t sustain itself. Each new generation must learn it, value it and defend it,” Hellinger said. “When we look at the stories of our prisoners of war and those missing in action, we see the living proof of that struggle.”

Those missing in action or who were formerly prisoners of war can be honored, according to Hellinger, by choosing service over selfishness, by practicing resilience in the face of adversity and by remembering that the U.S. Constitution, the nation’s freedoms and way of life are protected not just by those in uniform but also by “everyday citizens who choose community over individualism.”

rsmith@chicagotribune.com

https://www.chicagotribune.com/2025/09/21/aurora-recognizes-pow-mia-recognition-day-with-ceremony/