On Prisoner of War/Missing in Action Recognition Day, the City of Enterprise honors the service, valor and sacrifice of those service members who were prisoners of war and those who never returned home.

“Though they are not here, their sacrifice is not forgotten,” Mayor William E. Cooper said. “Today and every day at city hall we fly the iconic black and white flag symbolizing our nation’s Prisoners of War and Missing in Action. May this serve as a reminder that we have not forgotten their heroism and we still hope for their return.”

National POW/MIA Recognition Day was established in 1979 by President Jimmy Carter.  Since then, each president has issued an annual proclamation commemorating the third Friday in September as National POW/MIA Recognition Day.

More than 81,000 Americans remain missing from WWII, the Korean War, the Vietnam War, the Cold War, and the Gulf Wars/other conflicts, as of the latest numbers compiled in May by the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency.

“Let us remember that freedom is never free and that we owe an eternal debt to the heroes of our Armed Forces,” Cooper said.