‘You Are Not Forgotten’: Clarkesville to Observe POW/MIA Recognition Day

For some military families, war did not end when the fighting stopped. There was no homecoming. No final goodbye. And, for some, there were questions that continued for years or even generations.

On Friday evening, the Northeast Georgia community will have an opportunity to remember those families and the American service members who were prisoners of war or never returned home.

The Grant-Reeves Veterans Honor Guard will host a POW/MIA Remembrance Day ceremony at 6 p.m. Friday, September 18, at the Clarkesville Gazebo near Woods Mercantile.

The ceremony coincides with National POW/MIA Recognition Day, observed annually on the third Friday of September to honor former prisoners of war and remember American service members who remain missing in action or otherwise unaccounted for.

A Promise Not to Forget

The familiar black-and-white POW/MIA flag carries a simple message: “You Are Not Forgotten.” Behind those words are individual service members, their stories and families who have waited for answers.

National POW/MIA Recognition Day was established in 1979 by a presidential proclamation from President Jimmy Carter. The observance grew in part from the efforts of families who wanted accountability and remembrance for their missing loved ones.

Today, the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency continues working to locate, recover and identify Americans missing from past conflicts. As of 2026, the agency says nearly 81,000 Americans remain missing from conflicts including World War II, the Korean War, the Vietnam War and the Cold War. 

For the families left behind, remembrance carries particular meaning. It says that although years may pass, the nation has not forgotten the person who served—or the family that continues to wait.

Honor Those Who Came Home—and Remember Those Who Haven’t

The day also honors American prisoners of war who endured captivity and eventually returned home.

Their experiences represent another part of the cost of military service that can be easy for later generations to overlook.

National observances are intended not only to recognize their sacrifice, but also to renew the country's commitment to finding answers about those who remain missing. At a 2024 observance, a DPAA official described the purpose as remembering those service members, keeping their stories alive and renewing the commitment to continue searching.

That mission continues today through historical research, field investigations, recovery missions and scientific identification efforts. And sometimes, decades after a service member disappeared, a family finally gets an answer.

A Local Moment of Remembrance

Friday evening's ceremony in Clarkesville brings that national observance home to Northeast Georgia.

Hosted by the Grant-Reeves Veterans Honor Guard, the gathering offers veterans, military families and community members an opportunity to pause together and remember those who sacrificed their freedom in service to the country—as well as those who have never made it home.

The words associated with the POW/MIA flag are not meant simply as a slogan.

They are a promise. You are not forgotten. And until every possible answer has been found, the message remains: Honor. Remember. Never forget.

The POW/MIA Remembrance Day ceremony begins at 6 p.m. Friday, September 18, at the Clarkesville Gazebo near Woods Mercantile in downtown Clarkesville.