The Commonwealth’s National POW/MIA Recognition Day Ceremony will be held Friday, September 18, 2026 at 10 a.m. at the Virginia War Memorial in Richmond.
National POW/MIA Recognition Day is an annual observance held on the third Friday of September to honor and remember the American service members who were Prisoners of War (POWs) and those whom never returned home and designated as Missing in Action (MIAs).
Members of the public are invited and encouraged to attend and participate in this ceremony of remembrance.
The ceremony will include guest speakers, former Virginia POWs, family members of MIAs, military officials, and patriotic tributes. More than 80,000 thousand American men and women are still listed as MIAs from World War II, Korea, Vietnam, the Persian Gulf and other conflicts. Of these, nearly 1,300 are Virginians.
Members of the public are invited to attend and participate in this ceremony. Admission and parking at the Virginia War Memorial are free. Attendees can also visit the Memorial’s major exhibit “Virginia’s MIAs: The Search Continues” which opened in 2025 and tells the personal stories of many of those who never returned.