The D-Day Memorial in Bedford is hosting a National POW/MIA Recognition Day ceremony on Friday to honor American service members who became prisoners of war or who are still listed as missing in action. The USA Patriots – formerly known as the Wounded Warrior Amputee Softball Team – will take part in the wreath laying and program. The ceremony will recognize the five most recent Virginians identified by the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency. (They are Raymond Blanton, Ralph Cale, Bobbie Ray Daniels, Henry Ellis, and Andrew Schmitz.) The D-Day Memorial is offering free admission Friday from 10AM – 1PM and the ceremony begins at 1PM.
Here is more information from the D-Day Memorial:
Memorial to Honor Recently Identified Virginians at POW/MIA Event
USA Patriots Softball Team Will Take Part in Annual Observance
BEDFORD, VA – Join the National D-Day Memorial on Friday, September 17, 2021,
National POW/MIA Recognition Day, for a moving ceremony to honor those Americans
who served our country and became prisoners of war or who are still listed as missing in
action. The ceremony begins at 1PM on the lawn in front of the Memorial’s Gold Star
Garden.
The Memorial welcomes the USA Patriots (formerly known as the Wounded Warrior
Amputee Softball Team) to this event. These hero athletes will take part in the wreath
laying and program.
To highlight the continued commitment to provide the fullest possible accounting of
our missing personnel, the ceremony will recognize the five most recent Virginians
identified by the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency. They are Raymond Blanton,
Ralph Cale, Bobbie Ray Daniels, Henry Ellis, and Andrew Schmitz. The event will also
include special music by Rick Dellinger.
Free admission from 10AM – 1PM. Guests are asked to bring their own chairs.