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SACRAMENTO - Governor Gavin Newsom today issued a proclamation declaring Friday, September 20, 2024, as California POW/MIA Recognition Day.
PROCLAMATION
On POW/MIA Recognition Day, we honor the service and sacrifice of those who went off to war to defend our safety and freedoms, but never came home.
More than 80,000 American service personnel remain missing from World War II, the Korean and Vietnam wars, Gulf wars, and the war in Afghanistan combined. Some were prisoners of war taken captive and never returned to us. Others remain missing in action, a term that applies to any member of the U.S. Armed Forces who “becomes involuntarily absent as a result of a hostile action” and “whose status is unaccounted for,” as defined under the Missing Persons Act.
We honor them by keeping their memory alive, and by continuing to search for the answers their loved ones deserve. We commend the efforts of the Department of Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency, which works with great dedication and diligence in seeking those answers. The agency has identified and accounted for 863 Americans since 2019 – including 146 thus far in 2024 – and continues to navigate the lengthy and often complex process of bringing these service members home.
Thanks to the activism of the families of missing Vietnam War service members, our nation established POW/MIA Recognition Day in 1979, a solemn reminder of our country’s duty to remember the sacrifices made by those who serve and to do all we can to account for those who have not returned.
With the POW/MIA flag displayed at our Capitol and government buildings, businesses, and homes throughout California, we pledge to honor these brave souls and their families, and reaffirm the enduring promise “You Are Not Forgotten.”
NOW THEREFORE I, GAVIN NEWSOM, Governor of the State of California, do hereby proclaim September 20, 2024, as “California POW/MIA Recognition Day.”
IN WITNESS WHEREOF I have hereunto set my hand and caused the Great Seal of the State of California to be affixed this 19th day of September 2024.
GAVIN NEWSOM
Governor of California
ATTEST:
SHIRLEY N. WEBER, Ph.D.
Secretary of State