KANSAS CITY, Mo. – On Friday, Sept. 15, on National POW/MIA Recognition Day, the Veterans of Foreign Wars of the U.S. calls on every American to join us as we salute the men and women who served and sacrificed to keep America free, while supporting the families of the missing who continue to keep the candle of hope alive.
Today there are 83,000 Americans listed as missing and unaccounted-for from our nation’s wars going back to the beginning of World War II. That’s 83,000 military and civilian men and women, mothers and fathers, brothers and sisters, and sons and daughters.
As our nation pauses to remember their service and sacrifices, we must also remember the sacrifices of their families who continue to grieve.
The costs of war extend far beyond the last shots being fired, and for MIA families, the passage of time does not heal their wounds. For them, the days became weeks, the weeks became months, then years, and now, sadly, decades. They want answers to questions where there may be none to give.
This National POW/MIA Recognition Day, our nation must reaffirm its resolve to achieve the fullest-possible accounting of those who are missing. We must seek out former POWs and the families of the missing, and ask them to share their stories so future generations might understand the unequivocal service and sacrifice that’s required when America calls upon her military.
People who put others before self is the story of America – an America that rose to greatness on the shoulders of ordinary citizens who refused to shirk the responsibility of citizenship – who paid the highest price to preserve peace and freedom for others to enjoy.
Let us remember those who put country before self, but didn’t return home from their wars. Let us remember their families, who continue to burn the candle of hope. And let us continue to tell the story that without the service and sacrifice of American servicemen and women, there would not be a United States of America.