Comanche veterans to honor POW/MIA tribal members

On National POW/MIA Recognition Day, the Comanche Indian Veterans Association (CIVA) will recognize seven of their own warriors under the iconic flag recognizing these lost service members.

The event, will be at 6 p.m. Friday at the Circle of Honor at the Comanche Nation Tribal Complex, 9 miles north of Lawton. The public is welcome to attend.

CIVA Commander Roger Tehauno will be director of the ceremony.

CIVA member Kevin Pohawpatchoko said the event is to honor those who were held captive and returned, as well as those who remain missing from past conflicts.

National POW/MIA Recognition Day was established in 1979 through a proclamation signed by President Jimmy Carter. Since then, each subsequent president has issued an annual proclamation commemorating the third Friday in September as National POW/MIA Recognition Day, according to the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency.

Six Comanches were held as prisoners of war and one was missing in action, according to Pohawpatchoko. All are now deceased.

Those to be honored:

•Staff Sgt. Bruce W. Klinecole of the 515th Coast Artillery was forced to surrender on April 9, 1942, on the Philippine Islands and is a Bataan Death March survivor. He was liberated on Sept. 1, 1945, at Mukden, Manchuria. He died at the age of 64 on Aug. 30, 1981, and is interned at the Klinekole Family Cemetery near Three Rivers, N.M.

•Capt. Myers Wahnee Sr., served in the 8th U.S. Air Force, Army Air Force. He was captured on March 20, 1944, in France and was liberated from Stalag Luft 3 near Frankfurt, Germany, on April 29, 1945. He died July 4, 1982, at the age of 63 and is interned at the Little Washita Cemetery, east of Fletcher.

•Staff Sgt. Inman Cloyde Gooday served in the 8th U.S. Air Force, Army Air Force. He was captured on Sept. 10, 1944, near Baden-Baden Germany. He was liberated from Usedom Bei Savenmunde 54-16 in Germany on April 25, 1945, He died Nov. 5, 2005, at the age of 81 and is interned at Beef Creek Fort Sill Apache Cemetery on Fort Sill.

•Corporal Samuel Trevino served in the Army 106th Infantry Division and was captured on Dec. 16, 1944, along the Siegfried Line in Belgium He was liberated from Stalag 9B in Bad Ord Hessen-Nassau, Prussia, on 4 April 4, 1945, He died Dec. 27, 1989, at the age of 72 and is interned rat Memory Lane Cemetery in Anadarko.

•Private 1st Class Samuel “Doc” Pewewardy Jr. served in the Army 106th Infantry Division and was captured on Dec. 19, 1944, along the Siegfried Line in Belgium. He was liberated from Stalag 9B in Bad Ord Hessen-Nassau, Prussia on April 2, 1945. He died Feb. 23, 2009, at the age of 83 and is interned at Rainey Mountain KCA Cemetery west of Mountain View.

•Cpl. Dennis K. Karty served in Company B, 38th Infantry Regiment, 2nd Infantry Division. He was captured May 18, 1951, in the vicinity of Panmegi-Ri, South Korea, and died in captivity March 30, 1952, at Camp 4 near Wiwon, North Korea. The 20-year-old was repatriated and buried at Highland Cemetery.

•Lt. Col. Meech Tahsequah served in the Air Force, 3rd Maintenance Squadron, 3rd Bomb Group. He was reported missing in action Dec. 6, 1950, near Susa, North Korea, and dead Feb. 28, 1954. The 35-year-old’s body has not been recovered.