Editor’s note: This is the second installment in a four-part Memorial Day series by John E. Mallo, a longtime Eden Prairie resident and veteran who helped create the Eden Prairie Veterans Memorial at Purgatory Creek Park. The series focuses on local veterans who were prisoners of war or never returned home. The first installment featured the McClay family, including John McClay, a Civil War soldier who went missing in action.
The POW/MIA flag is a black-and-white banner symbolizing the nation’s commitment to accounting for American prisoners of war and those missing in action, whose bodies were never returned home. It features a silhouette against a watchtower and barbed wire with the motto “You Are Not Forgotten.” It is flown at federal locations on major military-related days. The flag was officially recognized by Congress in 2019 and can be flown anywhere the U.S. flag is flown.
Kenneth Jarrett was born Oct. 10, 1919, in Minneapolis. He was the son of William Reuben Jarrett and Florence Morton Jarrett, with siblings Joyce and Marion.
Pfc. Jarrett was stationed at the Navy Yard at Cavite when the United States entered World War II. Assigned first to the headquarters of the Third Battalion, 4th Marines, he transferred to the regiment’s Headquarters Company on Feb. 25, 1942, and participated in the defense of the Philippine Islands and the siege of Corregidor…