LANSING | About 12:30 Sunday morning, a cloud of smoke billowed from beneath the Vietnam War helicopter that stands at the Veterans Memorial at the Lansing Municipal Airport.

The smoke was from a small fire, and eight veterans huddled around it beneath the helicopter. A tarp helped shelter them from the rain.

The veterans were the last participants remaining from the Lansing Ceremonial Honor Guard's annual all-night vigil. September is POW/MIA month.

"It's a way of remembering those that haven't come back," said Ernie Mitchell, a New Lenox resident and Army veteran. "It goes back to the watch fires in the Civil War. They used to have big watch fires for the people that were still out on the battlefields, to find their way back to their own lines."

Navy veteran Bob Graham, of Burnham, sat intently before the fire as he recalled those he knew who didn't make it home.

"It's sort of a personal thing for a lot of us," Graham said.

Vietnam veteran Chuck Mabry, of Lansing, hoped that the vigil might cause passers-by to reflect on the freedoms that he says are often taken for granted.

"There aren't enough people in this country that have any conception of what it is to be shipped 12,500 miles away from home when you're a married man, and have to come back and get the (crap) we got when we came back," Mabry said. "We know in our hearts the reason we're doing this."

The last remaining veterans at the vigil, which began at 6 p.m. Saturday and lasted until 6 a.m. Sunday, were mostly from the Vietnam-era. They passed the time by recalling memories of their days in the service.

"I was there two days when I found out what bullets sound like," said Larry Grzywinski, of Lansing.