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VietNam Veterans of Diablo Valley sponsored a remembrance for National POW/MIA Recognition Day at the Veterans Memorial Building on Friday.

Military supporters are asked to use the third Friday in September as a day to remember the 140,000 former POWs and to reinforce America's commitment to the fullest possible accounting of 83,000 missing servicemen and civilians who have yet to return home from their wars.

Three civilians from Operation Iraqi Freedom and Army Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl in Afghanistan are missing, while 73,000 soldiers from WWII, 8,000 from Korea, 1,660 from Vietnam, 125 from the Cold War and two Navy pilots from the first Gulf War are MIA.

On Sept. 21, VNVDV President Mike Slattengren was joined by San Ramon Valley's Veterans of Foreign Wars Commander Ernie Petagara to hoist the POW-MIA Flag in Danville. The VNVDV has multiple members who were once prisoners of war.

Members of the American Legion, Marine Corps League, as well as veteran service organizations from throughout the San Ramon Valley, participated in the ceremony. The organizations "continue to remember and will burn the candle of hope that one day their comrades and fellow warriors will finally return home from their wars," a release stated.

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