Photos

New Mexico Veterans' Memorial Association
MIA Boot Display, September 2004

Click on the image to see a larger version.

All of the materials in this display were donated by past and present service members from Kirtland AFB. Airmen from the 377th ABW assembled the display (and stored it afterwards).

The display consists of 91 pairs of combat boots and 1 pair of shoes (representing a civilian advisor lost in Laos). Eighty seven of the boots represent New Mexico Veterans listed as MIA. The Veterans name, rank, service branch, date missing, country missing, and hometown appears on the tag attached to each pair of boots. The other five pairs list the total number of American service members missing in each war from WWI to the Persian Gulf Operations.

The display will grow by as many as 50 more pairs as the names of previously forgotten, New Mexico MIA Veterans are reviewed to determine their actual status. The names were discovered during the designing of the display.

The display is the property of the New Mexico Veterans' Memorial Association and will spend the next year touring the state to gain support for the POW/MIA Movement and to promote next year's Rally.

The display will participate as a float in the Veterans Day Parade in Roswell and the July 4th Parade in Moriarty. New Mexico Bikers are encouraged to escort it down the parade route on their bikes. The complete schedule for the display will be posted on the Memorial Association's web site.

The display will not be seen again in Albuquerque until next year when it comes home to the State Memorial on September 16, 2005.