Gone, but not forgotten.
That was the case from 1967-73, when Pekin resident Stan Newell was imprisoned by the North Vietnamese during the Vietnam War.
And that was the case again Saturday at the Pekin Marine Corps League, where about 200 people crowded inside the league's sweltering shelter listened attentively as speakers remembered Newell, who died Jan. 11 at age 76 in Elmore County, Ala., at a celebration of life.
Another 100 or so folks were outside the shelter, listening to the program on loudspeakers.
After the program, the Tazewell County Ceremonial Team did a 21-gun salute, Taps was played, and "The Army Goes Rolling Along" was played outside over the loudspeakers as veterans including members of the Quiet Pride Motorcycle Club stood at attention holding U.S. flags.
Newell's three sisters and their spouses organized the celebration of life, which went off without a hitch despite the oppressive heat inside the shelter. Planning for the event began in May.
The sisters were thrilled with the event.
"It was everything we hoped for and more," said Amy Werner. "We didn't want it to feel like a funeral. We wanted it to be a celebration and a remembrance, and it was."
"It exceeded our expectations," said Marti Kreutzer. "I was so moved by all the kind words said about our brother."
"I got there early. People kept pouring in," said Brenda Lehman.
The size of the crowd stunned the sisters.
"We thought there about 60 to 70 people would show up," Lehman said.
The sisters' prediction was way off. Former Pekin neighbors, classmates, friends, family members and folks who wanted to salute Pekin's only Vietnam War POW one more time traveled from near and far to attend the celebration of life.
Lehman, 81, the oldest of the Newell siblings, lives in Clinton. She was Stan's only older sister. She said she still remembers holding her baby brother's feet in the car as he came home from the hospital.
Werner, 71, lives in Pekin. Kruetzer, 69, lives in Topeka, Kan.
The three sisters, all Pekin Community High School graduates like their brother, sat together in the front row during the celebration of life program. To their left was an empty seat draped with a POW/MIA seat cover.
Speakers included Pekin attorney Burt Dancey, a childhood friend of Stan, who talked about Stan's early years in Pekin and his military service; Klaus Kruetzer and Mark Werner, spouses of two of the sisters, who welcomed guests; Pastor Eric Swanson from Grace United Methodist Church in Pekin, who led the celebration of life attendees in two moments of silence; and Steven Leopold, a retired Army colonel and former POW who was in the same prison camps as Stan for the final 4 1/2 years of Stan's imprisonment.
A retired attorney, Leopold drove to Pekin from Milwaukee for the celebration of life.
Speaking without notes, Leopold described the horrific conditions endured by U.S. soldiers in North Vietnamese prisons, but he also told heartwarming stories like singing Christmas carols with Stan while riding in a truck with him on Christmas Eve 1969.
"Stan knew them all. Every Christmas carol," Leopold said.
Also at the celebration of life was Dick Ziegler II of Taylorville, a retired Army warrant officer and former POW who flew to the U.S. with Stan and Leopold after the American prisoners were released.
"I'm proud to say not one of the three of us made a statement against our government or admitted committing a war crime, like our captors wanted us to do," Leopold said. "Stan was raised right and he did right."
About 600 U.S. flags, courtesy of the Flagman's Mission Continues, lined 1.7 miles of farmland along Garman Road from Illinois Route 29 to the Marine Corps League on Friday and Saturday. Mark Werner coordinated that effort for the Newell family.
The Marine Corps League was chosen as the site for the celebration of life in part because its a veterans fraternity and in part because "it's in a pastoral setting," Amy Werner said.
Stan was drafted into the U.S. Army on Sept. 14, 1966. Then a private first class, he was sent to Vietnam in February 1967.
He was captured by the Vietcong on July 12, 1967 along the Cambodia/South Vietnam border while on a search and destroy mission and he was imprisoned until March 5, 1973. He was one of 591 American POW's released as part of the Paris Peace Accords agreement that ended the war.
After his release, Stan was flown to Clark Air Force Base in the Philippines. After five days of exams, he flew to Fitzsimmons Army Hospital in Denver, where he was reunited with his family.
"Marti ran and slammed into Stan's arms on the tarmac," Dancey said during his talk.
Staff Sgt. Stan Newell returned to Pekin for a hero's welcome March 24, 1973. He was 25 at the time.
After a ceremony at Pekin Municipal Airport, a parade through downtown Pekin along Court Street and another ceremony at PCHS, he went back to his childhood home at 1516 Lake Street.
A March 24, 1973 story in the Pekin Daily Times quoted Stan as saying, "I had a speech prepared, but I think I'm going to set that aside and just say, "Good morning, how is everybody?" during the ceremony at the airport.
All told, Stan was in Vietnam for six years and one month. He was a POW for five years, seven months and 26 days. That's 2,064 days.
He was considered MIA (missing in action) by the Army until May 17,1969. That's when he was designed a POW (prisoner of war) after a photo in a Hanoi newspaper showed Stan and three other POWs being guarded by two North Vietnamese soldiers.
Despite the POW designation, Stan's family wasn't certain he was alive until his release. Their letters to him were not answered.
Stan wasn't forgotten back home while he was missing and imprisoned. His mother Muriel wrote letters to government officials and agencies, spoke publicly about him, and thousands of Pekin residents wore metal POW wristbands
He earned a Silver Star, Legion of Merit, two Bronze Stars and a Purple Heart during his time in action.
He wasn't done with the Army after his return from Vietnam. He made it his career.
"The Army was all Stan knew, and he knew that was where he could do the most good for people," Amy Werner said.
In addition to earning a degree in history from Austin Peay University in Clarksville, Tenn., Stan was was stationed in Tennessee, Alabama, Hawaii and Alabama again during his second stint in the Army.
Lt. Col. Stan Newell retired from the Army in 1992 at Maxwell Air Force Base in Montgomery, Ala.
It was at Maxwell where Stan taught a class on how to survive being a POW. He also wrote the textbook for the class, which included advice on do's and don't and what to expect.
Born Aug. 8, 1947 in Pekin to Arthur and Muriel Newell, Stan attended Wilson Grade School and Washington Junior High School in Pekin and graduated from PCHS in 1965.
After graduation, he worked at Caterpillar Inc. until he was drafted.
He reconnected with the love of his life, Shari Peplow, after he returned home from Vietnam and they were married in October 1973. They had a son, Chris, in 1976.
During his retirement, spent in Montgomery, Ala., Stan loved spending time with his family and especially his granddaughters, Annabelle and Allianne Newell, dove hunting, skeet shooting and reading.
His wife and parents preceded him in death. In addition to his sisters and granddaughters, Stan is survived by Chris' wife Autumn, nieces, nephews, cousins and in-laws.
