National POW-MIA Recognition Day In Novi At Oakland Hills Memorial Gardens

The POW Committee of Michigan will host a remembrance ceremony on Friday, Sept. 19 at 6:30 p.m., at the “Michigan Remembers” POW/MIA Memorial site located at Oakland Hills Memorial Gardens in Novi, Michigan.

Ceremony highlights will include a keynote address by Andrew Rocky Raczkowski, former State Representative and U.S. Army Lt. Colonel. In 1986, at the age of 17 and while still in High School, Rocky enlisted in the U.S. Army Infantry, while serving in the U.S. Army Reserve. After graduating, he attended and graduated from college and was commissioned in the United States Army through the Officer Candidate School Program. Upon commissioning, he entered the Infantry Officer Basic Course at Ft. Benning, GA. while being activated to serve on orders during Operation Desert Shield.

There will be a Veteran’s Honor Guard beginning at 5:00 PM, and the Honor Guard will change every half hour, for 24 hours. This would be somewhat like the changing of the guard at Arlington National Cemetery.

POW/MIA Recognition Day is a day when the nation pauses to remember those U.S. military members and civilians who remain missing from past and current wars, while the search continues each day to find those who are not accounted for.

On this solemn day, the POW/MIA flag flies over numerous federal facilities, including the White House; the Michigan Capitol; and veterans’ memorials nationwide as a pledge to account for missing U.S. service members. Missing Michigan service members include: 354 from the Korean War, four from the Cold War, and 49 from the Vietnam War.

Nearly 4,400 American military personnel remain missing from WWI; over 79,700 from WWII; nearly 8,000 from the Korean War; 1,655 from the Vietnam War; and one from the War in Afghanistan.

The public is welcome to attend the ceremony.