The point of POW/MIA Recognition Day is to ensure that America remembers to stand behind those who serve and to make sure we do everything we can to account for those who have never returned.

POW/MIA Numbers

In order to comprehend the importance of this movement, all you need to do is look at the sheer number of Americans who have been listed as POW/MIAs.

American POW Numbers

According to a Congressional Research Service report on POWs:

• 130,201 World War II service members were imprisoned; 14,072 them died.

• 7,140 Korean War service members were imprisoned; 2,701 of them died.

• 725 Vietnam War service members were imprisoned; 64 of them died.

• 37 service members were imprisoned during conflicts since 1991, including both Gulf wars; none is still in captivity

American MIA Numbers

According to the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency, 83,114 Americans who fought in those wars are still missing, including:

• 73,515 from World War II (an approximate number due to limited or conflicting data)

• 7,841 from the Korean War

• 1,626 from Vietnam

• 126 from the Cold War

• 6 from conflicts since 1991

The DPAA said about 75% of those missing Americans are somewhere in the Asia-Pacific. More than 41,000 have been presumed lost at sea.

Efforts to find those men, identify them and bring them home are constant. For example, the DPAA said that in the past year, it has accounted for 41 men missing during the Korean War: 10 had been previously buried as unknowns, 26 were from remains turned over by North Korea in the 1990s, one was from a recovery operation, and four were combinations of remains and recovery operations.

You Are Not Forgotten — that’s the central phrase behind the POW/MIA remembrance movement that honors America’s prisoners of war, those who are still missing in action and their families.

Many of our service members suffered as prisoners of war during several decades of varying conflicts. While some of them made it home, tens of thousands more never did.