Edwards remembers during POW/MIA Day

  • Published
  • By 412th Test Wing Public Affairs
Building 1 was the site of the POW/MIA Day Retreat Ceremony Sept. 21.  Retirees and military alike attended the special retreat ceremony to witness the folding of both the U.S. Flag and the POW/MIA Flag, which was flown underneath during the day. About 200 people attended the ceremony. Earlier in the day, the Edwards POW/MIA committee sponsored a 5K Fun Run that began in front of Starbucks and a social at the Air Force Flight Test Center Museum.  

In the United States, National POW/MIA Recognition Day is observed on the third Friday in September. It honors those who were prisoners of war and those who are still missing in action.

The day was established by an Act of Congress, by the passage of Section 1082 of the 1998 Defense Authorization Act. It is one of six days that the POW/MIA Flag can be flown.

The POW/MIA flag was first recognized by Public Law 101-355 in 1990. The POW/MIA flag is an American flag designed as a symbol of citizen concern about United States military personnel taken as prisoners of war or listed as missing in action.

The flag was created by the National League of Families and officially recognized by the Congress in conjunction with the Vietnam War POW/MIA issue, "as the symbol of our Nation's concern and commitment to resolving as fully as possible the fates of Americans still prisoner, missing and unaccounted for in Southeast Asia, thus ending the uncertainty for their families and the Nation."