(((Editor's Note --- This story was corrected at noon on Monday, March 13, to show that state Sen. Wayne Wallingford served in the U.S. Air Force)))
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Missouri lawmakers will hold their fourth "Vietnam Veterans Day" March 30 to honor and remember those Missourians who served in one of the nation's more controversial wars.
It began more than 50 years ago and officially ended on Jan. 27, 1973.
"I have not seen a veteran walk out of this building after that ceremony who has not been changed," Rep. Pat Conway, D-St. Joseph and a Vietnam veteran, told fellow members of the House Veterans Committee last week. "We all have the opportunity (to) let those people in our districts know that those veterans who are still alive deserve some recognition in their final years."
His comments followed the committee's hearing on Rep. Tom Hurst's resolution asking the federal government's Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency (DPAA) "to prioritize finding the 15 Missouri servicemen (from the Vietnam War) who are classified as presumptive finding of death and bring closure to those families."
Two of those 15 came from Freeburg.
Pvt. 1st Class Paul Hasenbeck disappeared, along with three others, on April 21, 1967 - 50 years ago next month - and his sister testified Wednesday the family has been frustrated by years of inability to get information about his disappearance from either the U.S. or Vietnam governments.
Marine 1st Lt. Bernard Plassmeyer likely died on Sept. 11, 1970, when his A-4E Skyhawk fighter jet was shot down near the Vietnam/Laos border during a support mission - but his remains never were found.
His brother, lobbyist and former state Rep. Norbert Plassmeyer, told the News Tribune the resolution "is asking (the DPAA) to place some priority" on giving a final accounting for the 15 missing Missourians. They can decide how the priorities are ordered," he said.
On its website, the DPAA reports: "More than 83,000 Americans remain missing from World War II, the Korean War, the Cold War, and the Vietnam War. Our mission is to provide the fullest possible accounting for our missing personnel to their families and the nation."
House Veterans Committee Chairman Charlie Davis, R-Webb City, told colleagues last week: "My goal is to have this (resolution debated) on March 30."
State Sen. Wayne Wallingford, R-Cape Girardeau - a retired Air Force lieutenant colonel who served five tours in Vietnam - sponsors the companion Senate resolution, which is waiting for a hearing in the Rules committee.
Hurst, R-Meta, told the House committee last week that passing the resolutions "is a way to say 'You are not forgotten' to Missouri's Vietnam veterans."
But that war ended 44 years ago.
How important is it to tell the Vietnam veterans' stories to today's younger generations?
"It is important," Plassmeyer said. "Their lives have been shaped by what has gone on in the past.
"And, as far as that goes, part of the reasons to do the (resolution) is to keep the memories alive - so that they know."
Jeanie Hasenbeck, Paul's sister, added: "I think the biggest frustration is, because the young people of today have never known war, have never known the fear of being drafted, have never had a friend or a loved one killed - they have no appreciation of the price that has been paid for the freedoms we literally take for granted.
"(They) don't ever question how we got them."
Those who served in Vietnam were born during or just after World War II and usually had relatives who had served in that war or in Korea.
Before his death in 2013, former U.S. Rep. Ike Skelton, D-Lexington - who served 34 years in Congress and chaired the House Armed Services Committee for four years - often voiced concern that with the nation's all-volunteer military, only a tiny percentage of Americans and their families had any direct contact with the military.
Hasenbeck thinks schools need to put a greater emphasis on the history of wars and conflict.
Today's students "don't learn about history in the sense that we did growing up," she said. "And they have no appreciation of what it takes to keep this country free."