National POW/MIA Recognition Day was established in 1979 through a proclamation signed by President Jimmy Carter. Since then, each subsequent president has issued an annual proclamation commemorating the third Friday in September as National POW/MIA Recognition Day.
Two ceremonies will honor our POW/MIA Department of Defense personnel that day. The first ceremony will be hosted by the Honorable David L. Norquist, Deputy Secretary of Defense, and held at the Pentagon at 2 p.m. EST (8 a.m. HST).
The second ceremony will be hosted by Rear Adm. Darius Banaji, DPAA’s Deputy Director of Operations, and held at the DPAA facility in Hawaii at 10 a.m. HST (4 p.m. EST).
Both ceremonies will be streamed live online by the Defense Media Activity. The links to the ceremonies, as well as a message from DPAA Director Kelly McKeague, are posted below.
National POW/MIA Recognition Day ceremonies share the common purpose of honoring those who were held captive and returned, as well as those who remain missing.