National POW/MIA Recognition Day • 2025

National POW/MIA Recognition Day was established in 1979 through a proclamation.

Since 1979, each president has issued an annual proclamation commemorating the third Friday in September as National POW/MIA Recognition Day. A national-level ceremony is held on every National POW/MIA Recognition Day. Traditionally held at the Pentagon, it features members from each branch of military service and participation from high-ranking officials.

In addition to the national-level ceremony, observances of National POW/MIA Recognition Day are held across the country on military installations, ships at sea, state capitols, schools and veterans' facilities. No matter where they are held, these 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.

According to a Congressional Research Service report on POWs:

130,201 World War II service members were imprisoned; 14,072 them died

7,140 Korean War service members were imprisoned; 2,701 of them died

725 Vietnam War service members were imprisoned; 64 of them died

37 service members were imprisoned during conflicts since 1991, including both Gulf wars; none are still in captivity

According to the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency, 83,114 Americans who fought in those wars are still missing, including:

73,515 from World War II (an approximate number due to limited or conflicting data)

7,841 from the Korean War

1,626 from Vietnam

126 from the Cold War

6 from conflicts since 1991

Many of our service members suffered as prisoners of war during several decades of varying conflicts. While some of them made it home, tens of thousands more never did.

National POW/MIA Recognition Day Ceremony, September 19, 2025 

You are not forgotten..