Today is National POW/MIA Recognition Day, remembering the thousands of service members who either were captured and held prisoners during war or who disappeared while on active duty and whose remains have never been identified.
In issuing his official proclamation for POW/MIA Recognition Day, President Joe Biden pledged to “seek out answers for the families of service members still missing in action.
Biden also called on all Americans to pay tribute to the former prisoners of war “who exhibited remarkable courage, love of country, and devotion to duty to protect our Nation’s safety and freedoms.”
Biden wrote that POW/MIA Appreciation Day is also a time to “remember that freedom is never free, that democracy always requires champions, and that we owe an eternal debt to the heroes of our Armed Forces.”
South Dakota Governor Kristi Noem issued a similar proclamation calling on the state’s residents to pay special honor to the Americans who have been prisoners of war, to those who remain missing in action, and to the families and friends of these valiant servicemembers.”
South Dakota Veterans Affairs Secretary Greg Whitlock encourages all South Dakotans to set aside time today to honor the POW/MIA’s who fought to protect our freedoms and lost theirs, as well as to remember those engaged in today’s struggle to guard our way of life for future generations.