Mennonite Church Peace Resources for Youth

War is a Dirty Thing. This may sound like a stupid remark, but stupid remarks often are true. I have been doing some research and I have found statistics for the POW's and MIA's from World War Two up through the 1991 Gulf War. Try to put these statistics into perspective, these are LIVES not just names. The families of these men have to suffer EVERYDAY not knowing what happened to their loved one. So here are the statistics:

World War Two:78,000 unaccounted for

The Korean Police Action(War):8,100 unaccounted for

The Cold War: 14 missions with unaccounted for personnel

The Vietnam War: 1,800 unaccounted for

1991 Gulf War:49 originally unaccounted for-48 eventually accounted for-2 lost at sea deaths additionally.

These statistics are from the website of the federal agency set up to locate POW's and MIA's.The agency is called The Defense Prisoner of War/Missing Personnel Office(or DPMO).(Just google POW and missing in action)(google does wonderful things). The number of lives unaccounted for in WWII is staggering, 78,000 people. Nobody knows where they went or the last time they were seen. All of the statistics are saddening, this many people, this many families having to live with the unknown constantly at their side. Let's think about this, shall we, we all know what just one life lost does to a community. The community is ripped apart, so what about all the families out their that are not sure whether they should mourn or hope? I ask you to pray for these people and the people war lost.