A ceremony to honor members of the nation’s armed services who are missing in action or were prisoners of war took place at Meridian City Hall Friday morning.

    NAS Meridian and the Air National Guard’s 186th Air Refueling Wing sponsored the POW/MIA Recognition Day.

    Keynote speaker Lt. Col. Gene Smith, USAF (Ret.), who was a POW in Vietnam for 5 1/2 years, shared his story.

    Smith was born in 1935 in Marks, Miss., and grew up in Tunica, Miss. He was commissioned through the Air Force ROTC program at Mississippi State University on July 13, 1956, and went on active duty beginning Sept. 26, 1956.

    Smith completed F-105 Thunderchief Combat Crew Training in July 1967, and then served with the 333rd Tactical Fighter Squadron at Takhli Royal Thai AFB,  in Thailand, from August 1967 until he was forced to eject while flying his 33rd combat mission over North Vietnam and was taken as a prisoner of war on Oct. 25, 1967.

    Smith began by discussing the importance of his faith in God.

    “I guarantee that the young men and women who are out there wearing the goat skins, there is going to be a time that you will realize you are going to need God,” Smith said.

    Smith spoke about how he was captured.

    “We moved in on a target one afternoon, and you could see nothing but flak and missiles,” Smith said. “When I rode in leading that last flight, my plane got hit.”

    The plane lost power and began to fall to the earth.     

    “I was going about 600 knots, so when it tumbled I was fighting different G forces and blacking out, and I couldn’t get my hands on the ejection lever,” Smith said. “I finally told myself that I was going to die … I was able to reach the handle and everything worked as it should. I came out the airplane and the chute opened.”

    Smith said at 3,000 feet he saw the enemy everywhere on the ground, so he tossed his gun and broken survival radio as he continued to descend.

    “As I went down, I had some Salem cigarettes in my flight suit and I pulled one of those out and smoked it on the way down,” Smith said.

    Once on the ground, Smith was captured by a large group of Vietnamese men and undressed by a machete. His hands were bound together with wire.

    After spending 1,967 days in captivity, Smith was released during Operation Homecoming on March 14, 1973. He was briefly hospitalized to recover from his injuries at March Air Force Base in California,. He completed Pilot Instructor Training before serving as an instructor pilot with the 50th Flying Training Squadron at Columbus AFB, Miss., beginning in November 1973.

    Smith ended his speech by talking about freedom.

    “Freedom is not free,” Smith said. “It is guaranteed to you by the men and women who served this country in the military.”

    The services concluded with an empty chair ceremony in honor of prisoners of war and those missing in action.