Airmen, their families & friends and volunteers from

Airmen, their families & friends and volunteers from the Space and Missile Systems center, Los Angeles Air Force Base, along with members from other military branches participated in a 24-hour torch relay run in remembrance and honor of those who were held captive or are still missing and unaccounted for during times of armed conflict (POW/MIA) on Sept. 19-20, 2019. The ceremony officially began at 9 a.m. on Terminal Island at the Port of San Pedro.
Air Force Col. Elizabeth Ward, IMA to the Director of the Space and Missile Systems Center’s Production Corps at Los Angeles Air Force Base in El Segundo and Cmdr. William Winburn, commanding officer of U.S. Coast Guard Base Los Angeles-Long Beach, helped light the ceremonial torch. The teams of runners carried the torch across the Vincent Thomas Bridge, across the waterfront in San Pedro, along the Palos Verdes Peninsula, through Redondo Beach, Hermosa Beach, Manhattan Beach, and El Segundo. They continued with an all-night run carrying the torch around the running track encircling the Schriever Space Complex on LAAFB.
The 24-hour relay culminated with a wreath laying ceremony held at the courtyard on LAAFB. Col. Elizabeth Ward was the last participant holding the ceremonial torch. During the ceremony, she laid the ceremonial torch in its final resting spot, alongside a memorial wreath in honor of those never forgotten.
Lt. Gen. John Thompson, Space and Missile Systems Center commander and Air Force Program Executive Officer for space, officiated the ceremony along with guest speaker, Kenneth Hughey, retired USAF Colonel, who led a flight of F-4 Phantoms over North VietNam and was shot down by anti-aircraft artillery and taken as prisoner. As a POW he spent 14 months in a one-man cell and was in complete isolation for five months. Similar to the ceremonial torch, his story was a symbol of hope which the nation will remember the sacrifice of our POWs or MIA during the Vietnam War.