2003 National POW-MIA Recognition Day

Friday, September 19, 2003
 

Local POW-MIA ceremonies across the country are encouraged.

 

To get media coverage, contact local state newspapers, magazines, military, church and school publications at least four weeks prior to Recognition Week.  Send information and write letters to the editor, outline scheduled events and encouraging community participation.  Develop posters and flyers to advertise local activities in the windows of businesses.  POW-MIA Recognition Day posters are available from all Military Services and major national veteran organizations.

 

America's POW-MIAs should be honored and recognized, with the focus on the need to account for them as fully as possible, alive or dead.

 

 

Some Events of 2000 POW-MIA Recognition Day:

    

Nearly 33 years after his plane was shot down over in coastal waters off North Vietnam, Navy Lt. Cmdr. Roger B. Innes was buried on home soil.  Innes was buried at Arlington National Cemetery in Virginia as National POW/MIA Recognition Day was marked with ceremonies across the country.

 

In Columbus, Ohio, 500 people listened to a 21-gun salute.  In Miami, former prisoners of World War II, Korea and Vietnam spoke to a gathering of veterans and their families.  In Seattle, bracelets inscribed with the names of POW/MIAs were presented to the POW-MIAs Living Memorial at Washington Memorial Park Cemetery.

At the Hickam Air Force Base in Hawaii ceremony, an honor guard fired a 21-gun salute and a bugler played ``Taps'' as Axson placed a memorial wreath to honor those still missing.

Following the ceremony, flag-draped coffins carrying the remains of nine Korean War veterans were taken off a C-17 cargo plane and taken to the Army's Central Identification Lab.