Hayesville Families to be honored at POW/MIA Ceremony Friday

HAYESVILLE, N.C. — Hayesville families will be honored Friday during a National POW/MIA Recognition Day ceremony at the town square.

The event begins at 11 a.m. Sept. 18 at Hayesville Square. Organizers say the program will recognize prisoners of war, service members still missing in action and Gold Star families from the Hayesville community.

National POW/MIA Recognition Day is observed each year on the third Friday in September. The day is set aside to honor Americans held in captivity and those who remain unaccounted for from the nation’s wars and conflicts. About 80,000 U.S. service members are still missing, according to federal accounting officials.

The Warrior Ethos will be part of the observance: “I will always place the mission first … I will never leave a fallen comrade.”

Gold Star recognition is reserved for families of service members who died in the line of duty. Friday’s ceremony is intended to remember those losses alongside the national pledge that missing personnel are not forgotten.