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Contact: Jody Mays, 229-924-0343 ext 115
National POW/MIA Recognition Day
Annual Convocation, WWII POW speaker, and Avenue of Flags to honor POWs and MIAs
ANDERSONVILLE, Georgia – National Prisoner of War/Missing in Action (POW/MIA) Recognition Day is Friday, September 21, 2018. In honor of that day, the National Park Service, The Ride Home, the Friends of Andersonville, and Georgia Southwestern State University (GSW) will present special programs on Wednesday, September 19, and Friday, September 21.
The 2018 National POW/MIA Convocation will be held at 11:00 a.m. on Wednesday, September 19 in the Storm Dome on the campus of Georgia Southwestern State University. The public is invited to this free program. Featured speaker David Keller will discuss his research on factors affecting Union and Confederate prison camps during the Civil War.
David Keller founded the Camp Douglas Restoration Foundation, a nonprofit organization dedicated to the preservation of historic information about Illinois and Chicago during the Civil War and other topics. His written works include The Story of Camp Douglas, Chicago’s Forgotten Civil War Prison and Robert Anderson Bagby, Civil War Diary (Annotated) 1863-1865. He currently serves as the Managing Director for the Foundation.
The annual Convocation begins four days of area events held in honor of National POW/MIA Recognition Day. The Avenue of Flags, a stirring spectacle of over 200 full-sized flags, will be on display at Andersonville National Historic Site until September 26 and will feature POW/MIA flags as well as American and state flags. The Ride Home, a nonprofit organization, will host several ceremonies in Warner Robins to remember military service members still listed as MIA and to honor former POWs.
At 9 a.m. on Friday, September 21, The Ride Home and Andersonville National Historic Site will conduct a special ceremony at the park’s National Prisoner of War Museum. World War II Prisoner of War William Pebly, captured by the Germans in December 1944, will share his experiences. The family of Michael Hoff, missing in action in Vietnam, will also speak. Former prisoners of war and missing in action family members from World War II, Korea, Vietnam, and other conflicts will be in attendance. We invite you to join us in honoring these men and women who have sacrificed so much for their country.
“National POW/MIA Recognition Day is one of our most important annual events,” said park Superintendent Charles Sellars. “We are honored to pay tribute to the military men and women who endured the loss of their freedom to protect ours.”
For information about the Convocation or National Prisoner of War Museum Ceremony, please contact Andersonville National Historic Site. For information on all events occurring as part of The Ride Home 2018, please check their website at theridehome.com.
Andersonville National Historic Site is located 10 miles south of Oglethorpe, GA and 10 miles northeast of Americus, GA on Georgia Highway 49. The national park features the National Prisoner of War Museum, Andersonville National Cemetery and the site of the historic Civil War prison, Camp Sumter. Andersonville National Historic Site is the only national park within the National Park System to serve as a memorial to all American prisoners of war. Park grounds are open from 8:00 a.m. until 5:00 p.m. with the museum open from 9:30 a.m. until 4:30 p.m. Admission is free. For more information on the park, call 229 924-0343, visit on the web at www.nps.gov/ande/, or find us on Facebook at facebook.com/AndersonvilleNPS
www.nps.gov
About the National Park Service. More than 20,000 National Park Service employees care for America’s 401 national parks and work with communities across the nation to help preserve local history and create close-to-home recreational opportunities. Learn more at www.nps.gov.
Last updated: November 2, 2018