Oregon POWs/MIAs to be honored with memorial signs along Hwy. 26
The latest project to place veterans' memorial signs along state highways
(Update: Adding video, Tobiason, veteran comments)
BEND, Ore. (KTVZ) -- Central Oregon's state lawmakers sponsored successful legislation designating U.S. Highway 26 as a “POW/MIA Memorial Highway.” Soon, memorial signs will be erected along the route, and a fundraising effort is underway to pay for them.
The vote was unanimous earlier this year by both the Senate and the House on HB 3452, requiring the Oregon Department of Transportation to install POW/MIA Memorial Highway signs, paid for by veterans.
Highway 26 is the longest highway in Oregon and stretches from the Oregon coast near Seaside to the Oregon/Idaho border at Nyssa.
The purpose of the new memorial signs along the highway is to honor the 600 prisoners of war from Oregon that served in both WWI and WWII, Korean and Vietnam wars, as well as the 1,000 Oregonians that were missing in action in those same wars.
The Bend Heroes Foundation will raise $24,000 to pay ODOT to fabricate and install 12 signs on the newly designated POW/MIA highway, beginning in early 2020.
It's the latest project of the foundation, and Bend veterans activist Dick Tobiason said it is one that has resulted in similar memorial designations for other highways across the state.
"They do understand, when they go to the post office or when they look up at the flagpole and see a flag that says, 'POW/MIA, you are not forgotten,'' Tobiason said. "So I know when they're driving, and I don't know how many people drive along that highway, but they'll see these signs, six in each direction, 12 on the highway. They'll say, 'POW/MIA Memorial Highway, what's that all about?'"
Tobiason said the signs will help others who are not familiar with POW/MIAs and want to know more.
With the installation of 12 signs on the POW/MIA Memorial Highway in 2020, the state's eight veterans’ highways will display 91 honorific signs on 2,969 miles of scenic border-to-border highways in Oregon, honoring almost 500,000 Oregon veterans who served, died, were wounded, received the Medal of Honor or became prisoners of war or missing in action since the Civil War.
NewsChannel 21 spoke to a retired veteran who shared why it's important to him.
"I think there is never closure until their loved ones are brought home," J.W. Terry said. "But it's certainly significant in the fact that their loved ones are remembered not only by them, but by the country."
