Events around the country will recognize the more than 81,000 remaining POW/MIAs for National POW/MIA Recognition Day, Friday, Sept. 16. For example, the future site of the National POW/MIA Memorial and Museum in Jacksonville, Fla., will host a memorial service alongside a visit from the Vietnam Memorial Traveling Wall. Orlando’s Veterans Advisory Council will host a POW-MIA recognition ceremony on Sept. 23. And Vietnam Veterans of America Chapter 154 will holds its 36th annual all-night POW/MIA Vigil tomorrow and Saturday at Resurrection Cemetery in Clinton Township, Mich. Find an event in your area! #NationalPOWMIARecognitionDay
Tag: National POW/MIA Recognition Day
Accounting for MIAs Every Day
Ahead of National POW/MIA Day on Friday, Sept. 16, you can check out some of the most recent MIAs to be identified at the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency (DPAA). The most recent MIA Vietnam veterans to be accounted for are U.S. Army Pfc. Thomas F. Green and U.S. Army Staff Sgt. Sanford I. Finger. Green was 19 and serving as the door gunner on a CH-47B Chinook helicopter that went down over the South China Sea in bad weather in 1971; Finger was a passenger on the transport. The remains of only four of the 10 soldiers on board were recovered during initial search and rescue operations. #NationalPOWMIARecognitionDay
81K U.S. Service Members Remain MIA
The Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency says that more than 81,600 Americans remain missing from WWII, the Korean War, the Vietnam War, the Cold War, the Gulf Wars and other U.S. conflicts. Of them, 75% are assumed to be located in the Indo-Pacific region, and more than 41,000 are presumed lost at sea. Some 1,584 went MIA from the Vietnam War. Efforts to find and identify MIAs and bring them home are continuous; many Vietnam Veterans of America (VVA) chapters have gotten involved in identifying remains over the years, giving military veterans’ families long-sought closure. Remember them on Sept. 16! #NationalPOWMIARecognitionDay
Observe POW/MIA Day by Donating
Observing POW/MIA Recognition Day today can be as simple as writing a card to a former POW, visiting a veterans home or donating to a veteran organization such as the Vietnam Veterans Association (VVA). Helping veterans through VVA’s ClothingDonations.org is easy: Gather up any lightly used clothing and household goods you no longer need or want and call for a free, contactless #donation pickup. VVA will resell your donated goods to thrift and secondhand stores and use the proceeds to help fund veterans programs such as the ones that identify and local MIAs’ cremains and give them a proper burial.
Work Continues to Identify POW/MIAs
Work continues to locate and identify POW/MIAs buried as “Unknowns” in national cemeteries. The Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency provides the fullest possible accounting for missing personnel from past conflicts, coordinating with hundreds of countries and agencies around the world. Forensic genetic genealogy services can also offer families assistance in locating POW/MIAs and descendants; listen to the “Stories of Sacrifice” podcast to hear profiles of several service members located and commemorate National POW/MIA Recognition Day this year.