Dear Editor,

Friday September 16, 2016 is National Prisoner of War (POW) and Missing in Action (MIA) Recognition Day.

This day was established by an Act of Congress with the passage of section 1082 of the 1998 Defense Authorization Act.

In the United States, National POW/MIA Recognition Day is observed annually on the third Friday in September.

Every year since 1989 by presidential proclamation, the United States remembers and honors those men and women of the Armed Forces who remain missing in action or who are prisoners of war.

More than 83,000 Americans remain missing from World War II, the Korean War, the Vietnam War, the Cold War and the Gulf Wars/other conflicts.

Out of the almost 83,000 still missing, 75 percent of the losses are located in the Asia-Pacific, and over 41,000 of the missing are presumed lost at sea (i.e. ship losses, known aircraft water losses, etc.). There are six from recent conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Thirty-one from Alabama remain among those unaccounted for.

The American Legion is committed to achieving a full accounting of all POW/MIAs from the Gulf War, Vietnam War, Cold War, Korean War, World War II and recent conflicts.

This means returning living POWs, the repatriation of their remains or finding convincing evidence why neither of these is possible.

The American Legion supports the continued declassification of all POW/MIA information, the strengthening of joint commissions with Russia, North Korea and China, and adequate resourcing of investigative efforts and field operations to resolve POW/MIA issues.

The American Legion works continuously with both Congress and DoD to improve the policies and programs for the accountability of missing persons.

This includes urging the president and Congress to fully fund the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Office (DPMO) for its current and future mission of ensuring the accountability of U.S. service members.

Their budget of $55 million is not for search and rescue missions, but to find and collect the remains of soldiers who have died in wars that have long been over.

The American Legion will continue to speak out and exert maximum pressure on both the administration and on Congress to fully account for America’s POW/MIAs.

Please join this effort by urging your senators and representatives to support this cause.

The focus today is to ensure that America remembers its responsibility to stand behind those who serve it and to make sure that we do all that is possible to account for those who have not returned.

On this day of recognition, pause for a moment and join with other Americans in remembering the thousands of men and women who have not yet had their homecoming.

 

Charlie Friday

Commander, Selma American Legion Post 20