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  • Senior Airman Alexis Hill, left, the youngest Airman present, Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. CQ Brown Jr., Secretary of the Air Force Frank Kendall, Chief Master Sgt. of the Air Force JoAnne S. Bass and Gen. John E. Hyten, vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, cut the cake during the Air Force’s 74th birthday celebration at the Pentagon in Arlington, Va., Sept. 17, 2021. (U.S. Air Force photo by Eric Dietrich)

    AF Week in Photos

    This week's photos feature Airmen from around the globe involved in activities supporting expeditionary operations and defending America. This weekly feature showcases the men and women of the Air Force.
  • U.S. Air Force Lt. Col. Powell, 387th Air Expeditionary Squadron commander, poses for a portrait at an undisclosed location in Southwest Asia, Sept. 21, 2018. National POW/MIA Recognition Day is held each year on Sept. 21. There are currently more than 82,000 Americans missing from past conflicts dating back to World War II. (U.S. Air Force photo by Staff Sgt. Christopher Stoltz)

    Not Forgotten

    When you walk into many dining facilities in the Air Force, you see it in the corner or off to the side: the lone chair and place setting. In the hurries of our day, we become numb to the sight of it: the Prisoner of War/Missing in Action table with a setting for someone who has never returned. Every year, on the third Friday of September, we remember and honor former prisoners of war and the families of those whose loved ones never returned from war.
  • Members of the Air Force Band perform during the 2018 Heritage to Horizons summer concert in Arlington, Va., June 8, 2018. (U.S. Air Force photo by Wayne A. Clark)

    Col. George Day advanced to the rank of brigadier general

    Medal of Honor recipient Col. George “Bud” Day was posthumously advanced to the rank of brigadier general during a Heritage to Horizons summer concert series at the Air Force Memorial in Arlington, Virginia, June 8, 2018.
  • Air Force Vice Chief of Staff Gen. Stephen Wilson presents the American flag to the next of kin during the full honors funeral ceremony for retired Col. Leo Thorsness at Arlington National Cemetery, Arlington, Va., Feb. 14, 2018. Thorsness received the Medal of Honor for his heroic actions during the Vietnam War. (U.S. Air Force photo by Staff Sgt. Rusty Frank)

    Medal of Honor recipient, former POW laid to rest

    As a Medal of Honor recipient and former Prisoner of War, retired Col. Leo Thorsness’s life mantra after returning home from the Vietnam War was “Faith, Family, Friends and Fun.” With the support of Air Force senior leaders, his wife, Gaylee, and daughter, Dawn, kept those words close as they said their final goodbye to Thorsness during his interment at Arlington National Cemetery Feb. 14, 2018.
  • Lloyd Ponder, World War II POW

    World War II POW survivor shares tale of hope, determination, resilience

    The four pillars of resiliency -- physical, mental, spiritual and social -- are drilled into the minds of Airmen today to emphasize how important it is that no matter what life situation they are going through, there is always a healthy way to handle the situation.
  • Retired Lt. Col. Richard “Gene” Smith, former 50th Flying Training Squadron Commander, holds a prisoner of war bracelet Oct. 17, 2017. The date Smith was shot down, Oct. 25, 1967, is inscribed on the bracelet, along with his rank and name. The bracelets help keep the memory of POWs and those missing in action. (U.S Air Force photo by Airman 1st Class Beaux Hebert)

    POW recalls mission that led to capture 50 years ago

    On Oct. 25, 1967, now retired Lt. Col. Richard Smith and his wingmen had orders to bomb the Paul Doumer Bridge in North Vietnam; the bridge was a mile long and one of the most heavily defended positions in Southeast Asia.
  • Servicemembers with the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency honor the fallen during a disinterment ceremony Aug. 28, 2017, at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific in Honolulu, Hawaii. The remains disinterred will be transferred to the DPAA laboratory for identification. (U.S. Air Force photo by Senior Airman Mikaley Kline)

    DPAA Accounts for 183 Missing Service Members in Fiscal Year 2017

    In fiscal year 2017, the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency accounted for 183 formerly missing persons from past conflicts. Also, the agency individually identified the remains of 18 additional personnel, who were previously accounted for as part of group burials, reaching another milestone of 201 total identifications for the fiscal year.
  • Maj. Beth Janssen, Air Force A3, looks out a window of a C-17 Globemaster III during Operation Uggianaqtuq, while flying over the Bering Strait on course for Point Barrow, Alaska, Sept. 9, 2017. Janssen was part of the Air Force Arctic Security Expedition designed to inform senior Air Force leaders about emerging challenges in the Arctic. The operation took them to Alaska, Greenland and as far north as Alert, Canada. (U.S. Air Force photo by Tech. Sgt. Dan DeCook)

    AF Week in Photos

    This week's photos feature Airmen from around the globe involved in activities supporting expeditionary operations and defending America. This weekly feature showcases the men and women of the Air Force.
  • Vietnamese personnel screen soil as they work alongside Defense POW/MIA Accountability Agency members in hopes of recovering parts from a fallen aircraft or service member in Phuoc Son providence, Vietnam, May 27, 2017. The local nationals the service members increase the amount of work that is completed throughout the mission. (U.S. Air Force photo by Staff Sgt. David Owsianka)

    Search for our fallen continues

    Drenched in sweat from the hot, humid Vietnam weather, our shovels breached the earth’s surface excavating the ground and placing it into buckets to be screened as we searched for one of our own.

  • Around the Air Force: Aug. 2

    On this look around the Air Force B-1B Lancers fly by the Korean peninsula in a show of force, F-16 Fighting Falcon pilots and maintainers finish a training deployment to Royal Air Force Lakenheath, and a Cold War POW is laid to rest at Arlington National Cemetery. Hosted by Airman 1st Class Jasmine Vanderheyden.

  • Air Force names 2016 Lance P. Sijan Leadership Award recipients

    Air Force officials have named four Airmen as the 2016 Lance P. Sijan Leadership Award winners.

  • Medal of Honor recipient passes away at 85

    Col. Leo K. Thorsness, Medal of Honor recipient, passed away May 2, 2017, in St. Augustine, Florida, at the age of 85, according to the Congressional Medal of Honor Society.
  • On April 7, 1966, Air Force Capt. Robert Barnett was the pilot of a B-57B Canberra on a strike mission over Laos when his aircraft was hit by hostile ground fire and crashed. Barnett was declared killed in action. After his remains were recently recovered, the Texas native was laid to rest April 7, 2017, at the Texas State Cemetery in Austin, Texas. (U.S. Air Force courtesy photo)

    Missing Persons Branch aids family of Vietnam-era pilot, many others

    A 51-year journey, to the day, came to an end last month. Air Force Capt. Robert Barnett was laid to rest April 7, 2017, with full military honors at the Texas State Cemetery in Austin, Texas.
  • A formation of T-34 Mentors perform a missing man flyover during the Freedom Flyer Reunion wreath laying ceremony March 31, 2017, at Joint Base San Antonio-Randolph, Texas. The event honors all prisoners of war and missing in action service members from the Vietnam War and included a wreath-laying ceremony and a missing man formation flyover. (U.S. Air Force photo by Sean M. Worrell)

    Annual reunion honors sacrifice of POW, MIA service members

    Members of the 560th Flying Training Squadron hosted the 44th annual Freedom Flyer Reunion and 20th annual POW/MIA (prisoner of war/missing in action) Symposium March 30-31, 2017, at Joint Base San Antonio-Randolph, Texas.
  • US. Army soldier Ricardo Plana, and his wife, Emerenciana Plana, pose for a photo in the Philippines, in between 1946 and 1949. Retired U.S. Army Sgt. Maj. Ricardo Plana and thousands more prisoners of war were forced to march 70 miles before entering concentration camps during WWII. To honor his and other POW’s sacrifices, Plana’s grandson, U.S. Air Force Staff Sgt. Max Biser, 23d Security Forces Squadron NCO in charge of confinement, marched 26.2 miles, March 19, 2017, at White Sands Missile Range, N. M. (courtesy photo)

    Bataan Death March: Airman honors POW grandfather

    Starvation, torture and a 70-mile march to concentration camps or dying in the process were the only options Philippine soldier, the late Ricardo Plana, faced after the U.S. surrendered the Bataan Peninsula to the Japanese during World War II. Now, 75 years later, his grandson, Staff Sgt. Max Biser, of the 23rd Security Forces Squadron, traveled to the White Sands Missile Range, New Mexico, to complete the 26.2-mile Bataan Memorial Death March, March 19, 2017.
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