On National POW/MIA Recognition, reflection matters more than timing.
A Week Late, But Never Forgotten
Sometimes the calendar moves faster than our ability to keep up. National POW/MIA Recognition Day has passed — but the meaning, the weight, and the responsibility it carries remain just as urgent a week later.
At the National Cemetery of the Alleghenies, row after row of headstones stand as silent reminders of sacrifice. It is a place that forces you to pause. To set aside politics, noise, and division — and remember.
We live in a time of national turmoil. Headlines change by the hour, debates rage online, and tempers flare too quickly. Yet behind all of it are men and women who once carried our flag into danger and, in too many cases, never returned. Some endured the unimaginable as prisoners of war. Others remain missing — their families waiting, their stories unfinished.
To honor them requires more than a single day on the calendar. It asks us to carry humility, gratitude, and remembrance into our daily lives.
A week late or not, let us pause. Let us remember those who bore the weight of service, who carried it beyond the battlefield, and who never saw home again.
They are not forgotten. Not today, not tomorrow — not ever.