A group of veterans is restoring an old plane to be a centerpiece on display at the Cecil Airport POW/MIA Memorial.

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — A tribute to those who were never found.

A group of Jacksonville veterans are working on a way to remember soldiers who were prisoners of war or are missing in action.

“Not a lot of people get to relive their past, so to go in a plane you haven’t been in in almost 30 years, it’s like stepping back in your hey day,” said Navy veteran Jarvis Klees.

Klees says the S3 Viking still smells the same as when he flew on it back in his Navy days in the 90s.

The plane was a fixture at Cecil Field from the 1970s through the late 90s when the base was decommissioned.

But now, it’s back, and will soon be a part of Legacy Plaza – an ode to the planes that flew out of Cecil Field in its hey day.

“It’s the best therapy somebody could ever have to do something like this,” Klees said.

Klees’s “therapy” is part of a much bigger picture – a 26 acre, $80 million Prisoner of War and Missing in Action Memorial.

Congressman Aaron Bean sponsored a bill to designate it as the national memorial – displaying the names of the more than 80,000 MIA American soldiers since the start of World War II.

“Solace to the families to come here and see their loved one, their relative, their friend on a wall that says, ‘Hey, we still remember and will never forget those missing in action,'” said National POW/MIA Memorial Executive Director Captain Ed Turner. “We think this is long overdue.”

Renderings show the wall with all the names, exhibits showing the work to find MIA soldiers and even a possible reflection pond complete with a quarter of an aircraft carrier for guests to walk out on.

For Turner, it’s a personal mission.

“I lost a good friend coming back from a strike in Iraq during Desert Storm,” Turner said. “He’s still missing. That’s a driving force for a lot of folks who are a part of this project.”

Turner says it’ll likely be about seven years, if not more, before the full memorial is complete.

First thing’s first – Klees and company need to get the S3 Viking back into fighting shape. “There’s some guesswork, and it’s a jigsaw puzzle, but it’s a great little jigsaw puzzle to play with,” he said.

Volunteers have a few weeks or work ahead of them while it’s still in the hangar, but eventually it will move to the memorial by the old chapel.