commemorate National POW/MIA Recognition Day at the National Memorial

Cemetery of the Pacific [Punchbowl] at 10 a.m. Friday, Sept. 21.

Each year, a Presidential Proclamation designates the third Friday in

September as National POW/MIA Recognition Day. Highlights of this year's

ceremony include a wreath laying ceremony, speeches by distinguished

guests, and the playing of taps in recognition of prisoners of war and

those still missing in action from previous wars.

The ceremony will be led by JPAC's commanding general, Brig. Gen.

Michael Flowers. Keynote speaker will be U.S. Army Staff Sgt. (Ret) Nick

Nishimoto, a former Korean POW.

The ceremony is free and open to the public. At the conclusion of the

ceremony, the audience will be invited to tour the cemetery or lay

wreaths at the monument.

JPAC's mission is to conduct operations in support of achieving the

fullest possible accounting of Americans missing as a result of our

Nation's past conflicts.

One American is still missing from the Gulf War, more than 1,750 from

the Vietnam War, 120 from the Cold War, more than 8,100 from the Korean