Special events scheduled for POW/MIA Remembrance Week

Volunteers from the National Air and Space Intelligence Center carry the POW/MIA flag, scroll and torch during the annual POW/MIA walk/run on Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Sept. 20, 2018. Runners/walkers carried the POW/MIA flag and torch continuously for 24 hours to honor all past and present POW/MIA. (U.S. Air Force photo/Senior Airman Holly Ardern)

Volunteers from the National Air and Space Intelligence Center carry the POW/MIA flag, scroll and torch during the annual POW/MIA walk/run on Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Sept. 20, 2018. Runners/walkers carried the POW/MIA flag and torch continuously for 24 hours to honor all past and present POW/MIA. (U.S. Air Force photo/Senior Airman Holly Ardern)

A 24-hour vigil run and dual wreath laying ceremony will be held Sept. 19-20 to honor those who were held captive and returned as well as those who remain missing.

National POW/MIA Recognition Day was established in 1979 through a proclamation signed by President Jimmy Carter and honors those who were held captive and returned as well as those who remain missing.

The POW/MIA Recognition opening ceremony and 24-hour vigil run will begin on Sept. 19 at 7 a.m. at the Air Force Institute of Technology track located in Area B. In shifts of 30 minutes, participants will run, walk, or ruck in groups around the track while carrying a memorial torch, POW/MIA flag and a scroll through the duration of their shift maintaining constant motion with the items in hand.

The 24-hour vigil run will conclude with a ceremony at the Arnold House in Area A Sept. 20 at 9 a.m. The ceremony will be a dual wreath-laying, which is the culmination of the run and the retirement of the items that were carried during the run.

Volunteers are also needed to work in two-hour shifts during the 24-hour vigil run.

The event is free and open to anyone with base access, but sign-up for the run is required. To volunteer or run/ruck/walk a shift for the 24-hour vigil, contact Tech. Sgt. Ashley Albizu at ashley.albizu@us.af.mil or at 937-938-3021.

For information about the ceremony held at the Arnold House, contact David McCoy at taterholio@hotmail.com or the local Air Force Sergeants Association at AFSAChapter751@us.af.mil.

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