National POW/MIA Recognition Day Service, September 19

The Annual National POW/MIA Recognition Day service will be held in Branson on Friday, September 19. The VOTO Honor Guard, guests and POW/MIA Chairman, Mary Schantag, will gather in the Autumn Daze Main Stage area outside The Columns, 3750 W. 76 Country Blvd., Branson, at 10 a.m. Please note the new venue for the event. The Columns Event Center is behind Olive Garden near IHOP.

Work is still being done to achieve a full accounting of all the 85,000-plus (2,400 from Missouri) U.S. service members, who were imprisoned or are unaccounted for as a result of their military service. The day is meant to bring attention worldwide to those missing, and their families, some of whom have waited decades for answers.

For FY2025 there have been only 154 World War II service members identified - 55 from the Korean War and eight from Vietnam. While excavations and exhumations continue, the process is extremely slow and may still take centuries to complete the process of “Leaving No Man Behind.”

For further information, call Mary Schantag, P.O.W. Network, 417-336-4232.