Robins Air Force Base recognizes Prisoners of War and those Missing in Action

ROBINS AIR FORCE BASE, Georgia (41NBC/WMGT) – Prisoners of War (POW) and those Missing in Action (MIA) were honored at the Museum of Aviation Thursday.

The ceremony was held in conjunction with National POW/MIA Recognition Day.

Before the ceremony, volunteers and servicemen ran around the museum carrying the POW/MIA Flag for 24 straight hours in a gesture to show the flag should be raised throughout the day.

Jo Anne Shirley was in attendance. Her brother, Bobby Jones went MIA in Vietnam in 1972. His jet was lost and he hasn’t been seen since. Shirley is now trying to help others in similar circumstances.

“I feel like one day when my brother and I are going to meet face to face again on Earth or in heaven I want him to be able to look me in the face and I want him to know I’m a housewife from Georgia but I did everything I can,” Shirley said.

Vietnam veteran and former POW Colonel Robert G. Certain was the guest speaker. His B-52 navigator was shot down in 1972. He was held as a POW for 100 days.

National POW/MIA Recognition was established with the passage of the 1998 Defense Authorization Act. It’s one of six days the POW/MIA Flag can be flown.

For more information to help families whose loved ones were captured in the service or are MIA, visit www.pow-miafamilies.org