Library Plans Ceremony to Honor POWs, MIAs

The Ronald Reagan Presidential Library near Simi Valley will host a flag-raising ceremony to commemorate American prisoners of war and members of the armed forces who remain missing in action.

The hourlong ceremony, which will begin at 11 a.m. May 16, National Armed Forces Day, will include a religious invocation, lecture on the history of the POW / MIA flag and a speech by Judie Mills Taber, regional coordinator of the National League of Families of American Prisoners and Missing in Southeast Asia.

A number of former POWs, veterans and family members of those still missing in action are expected to attend the event.

The ceremony at the Reagan library and similar ones across the nation are being organized as a result of the National Defense Authorization Act.

The legislative act, passed by Congress in 1988, requires certain federal institutions to fly the POW / MIA flag on specific national holidays as a visual reminder of the plight of America’s war prisoners and those who still remain unaccounted for.

Although the library is not required to fly the flag, administrators chose to do so to honor the sacrifice of thousands of American soldiers.

Admission to the event is $4 for adults and $2 for those 62 and older. Children under 15 years are admitted free.

The library is at 40 Presidential Drive.

For information about the event, call (800) 410-8354.