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Mike Bowen, of Flushing, laughs while holding a MIA/POW flag on Thursday afternoon, Sept. 5 2013 at Flushing County Park. Bowen has been running for the past 31 years and pledges to run one mile in honor of each of the 58,286 Americans killed in Vietnam.

(Zack Wittman | MLive.com)

Mike Bowen, 65, runs in Flushing Park carrying his POW/MIA flag. It's a routine he's followed for the past 31 years.

FLUSHING, MI -- About halfway down the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Wall in Washington, D.C., sits panel 17-W. That is where Mike Bowen was flooded with emotion during the Wall’s dedication in 1982 and it is where he’ll return Sept. 20 to finish a mission 31 years in the making.

Bowen is a 65-year-old Flushing resident and U.S. Army veteran. He served close to three years in West Germany after enlisting in the service with a group of friends from his Clio High School Class of 1966, something he says was a “forgone conclusion” for graduating high school seniors at that time.

Eight of his closest friends died in the Vietnam War. Bowen was one of the “lucky” ones, he says, of the Vietnam era. His childhood friend John Lee, whose name is listed on panel 17-W, was not. Nor was the son of a woman standing next to him that day -- another name on the Wall.

When Bowen returns to that spot on Sept. 20, it will be at the end of a four-mile run. They're the last four miles of the 58,282 he will have logged over the past 31 years as his personal mission to run one mile in honor of every American who died or is listed as a missing Prisoner of War or MIA (Missing in Action) from Vietnam.

“I remember meeting this woman who was looking at the same place for her son’s name and, boy, was that a somber moment,” Bowen said. “That’s some sacred ground there. She said she believed her son was still alive because he was listed as a POW. She didn’t know what happened to him, other than he didn’t come home. That hit me. I left there knowing I wanted to do something to honor those guys.”

So he started running.

Running on his own, running in 52 marathons, 29 Crim Festival of Races in Flint, 25 River Bank Runs in Grand Rapids and many other races around the country. He kept going through three knee surgeries, and a battle with cancer in 2006.

Bowen has run every mile carrying a black POW/MIA flag. He’s on his seventh flag now, as the others eventually gave in to the wear and tear. Not once did Bowen ever consider giving up.

“I had a little bit of survivor’s guilt, I guess, maybe is how it started,” Bowen said. “My name could have been on there very easily. Right place right time, God, luck, I don’t know why it’s not.”

Bowen's efforts earned him the nickname "Flagman," as he is affectionately known in Flushing and around Genesee County. He's appreciated by fellow veterans, more than he knows.

“It’s hard to put it all into words, but he means a lot to us and we’re all so proud of him,” said Larry Edwards, vice president of the Vietnam Veterans of American Chapter 175 in Genesee County. “It’s quite a tribute and I think our gratitude is known and goes without saying.

“If you knew Mike and you knew the kind of person that he is, you just say, well that’s Mike. That’s what he does. When he gets his mind to something, he does it.”

Bill Stratton, a Flint native and current Grand Blanc resident, served in Vietnam for seven months in 1968 and 1969. He was deployed a few weeks after two of his close friends, both of whom died before he got there.

“They were there just prior to me getting there and were both killed within a couple of weeks of being there,” Stratton said. “One was taken out with a sniper and the other stepped on a land mine. They were gone, just like that. We lost over 58,000 soldiers over there and the guys that served and came back all have similar stories. The names on the Wall have a very real meaning.”

Stratton’s son Will is a member of the U.S. Army and served in both Iraq and Afghanistan before recently moving to an Army intelligence position in Virginia. Will Stratton helped Bowen plan his final route in 'D.C.

"My son met him this summer and they ran the Crim together and Will was so honored to meet Mike and then get the chance to help him coordinate this," Stratton said. "I think what he's doing is fantastic."

“Veterans have always looked out for each other and tried to do right by each other,” said Sherwood H. Pea Jr., a Flint native and Vietnam veteran who met Bowen while both were members of the UAW and working at the General Motors plant in Grand Blanc. “We’re all in it together. Still, we’re all in it together. That’s the attitude veterans have and Mike has displayed that tremendously.”

Bowen’s upcoming trip to Washington, D.C., is full of symbolism.

He’ll be traveling to 'D.C. on his Harley -- flag flying alongside him -- the day before as part of a motorcycle caravan expected to include between 40-50 people with friends and members the Michigan Patriot Guard. His first trip to the Wall in 1982 was also done on his motorcycle.

Bowen plans to finish his run at noon, Sept. 20, National POW/MIA Recognition Day.

“Once I started getting down into the four digits (in miles) and this started to become a little more real, I started thinking about the right way to end it,” said Bowen, who logs all his miles each year in calendars and then transfers them into a running notebook. “A lot of people don’t know about POW/MIA Recognition Day, but veterans do and it means a lot to us.”

Bowen notified the Vietnam Veterans Memorial National Parks Service that he would be coming but said he didn’t want to plan any grand celebration, although his wife Patty, other family members and some friends in the Patriot Guard will be there and have reached out to other veteran groups in the D.C. area.

They were given permission to have a 24-person flag line at the entrance to the park that Bowen will run through, but there is no official event or presentation taking place.

“At first I just planned to go there and do this in the middle of the night by myself because that’s just kind of the guy I am, but my wife wasn’t having it,” Bowen said. “She said ‘No way. You’ve been doing this for 31 years and we’re going to get everyone there that we can.’ She’s been with me through this whole mission and she’s the boss, so I had to go with what she said because I wouldn’t have made it this far without her. I call her Coach.”

Patty Bowen said her role in her husband’s journey has been both as a motivator and enforcer of common sense.

“I’ve had to tell him to get out the door every now and then, but most of the time I had to tell him to stop running for a bit,” she said. “He never listened to his doctors, but I got him to listen to me. It’s going to be a relief and really emotional for me to see him complete this with his friends and family all there.”

Bowen’s OK with the publicity and attention, so long as the focus of his journey remains on its cause and not on him. His own voice mail greeting doesn’t even say his name. Just: “God Bless America, please leave a message. Thank you.”

“I’m just doing it for the guys who didn’t make it home and their families,” Bowen said. “I’m not doing any of this for myself. I could have been in Vietnam. I could have died, gotten captured. I know that, so this is all for them.”

The National Parks Commission told Bowen he cannot physically run alongside the Wall, only up to it, because of tourists and potential crowds. His route will end at the entrance to the memorial and then he plans to walk along the Wall and leave his flag near the middle, at panel 17-W.

Where it all started.

Contact Ross at rmaghiel@mlive.com and follow him on Twitter @Maghielse.