{"id":7658,"date":"2025-09-23T15:47:34","date_gmt":"2025-09-23T15:47:34","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/gpstrianglenews.com\/index.php\/2025\/09\/23\/american-legion-post-174-honors-national-pow-mia-recognition-day\/"},"modified":"2025-09-23T15:47:34","modified_gmt":"2025-09-23T15:47:34","slug":"american-legion-post-174-honors-national-pow-mia-recognition-day","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/gpstrianglenews.com\/index.php\/2025\/09\/23\/american-legion-post-174-honors-national-pow-mia-recognition-day\/","title":{"rendered":"American Legion Post 174 Honors National POW\/MIA Recognition Day"},"content":{"rendered":"<p data-start=\"200\" data-end=\"375\"><strong data-start=\"200\" data-end=\"210\">IRMO &ndash;<\/strong> The American Legion Post 174 held a solemn ceremony on <strong data-start=\"266\" data-end=\"290\">Friday, September 19<\/strong> in observance of <strong data-start=\"308\" data-end=\"344\">National POW\/MIA Recognition Day<\/strong> at its headquarters in Irmo.<\/p>\n<p data-start=\"377\" data-end=\"674\">Second Vice Commander <strong data-start=\"399\" data-end=\"415\">Bryan Ritter<\/strong> welcomed guests, followed by the <strong data-start=\"449\" data-end=\"475\">Dutch Fork Color Guard<\/strong> presenting the colors. A <strong data-start=\"501\" data-end=\"526\">POW Remembrance Table<\/strong> stood at the center of the ceremony, its empty chairs representing each branch of the military and the enduring sacrifice of those still missing.<\/p>\n<p data-start=\"676\" data-end=\"893\">Irmo Mayor <strong data-start=\"687\" data-end=\"705\">Bill Danielson<\/strong> reflected on the day&rsquo;s significance, saying, <em data-start=\"751\" data-end=\"891\">&ldquo;It&rsquo;s truly an honor and privilege to be here this morning. We can never forget those who have served and given so much in our struggles.&rdquo;<\/em><\/p>\n<p data-start=\"895\" data-end=\"1087\">South Carolina Department of Natural Resources Director <strong data-start=\"951\" data-end=\"967\">Tom Mullikin<\/strong> also spoke, emphasizing the importance of honoring the strength, resolve, and sacrifice of America&rsquo;s service members.<\/p>\n<p data-start=\"1089\" data-end=\"1324\">The ceremony highlighted the history and symbolism of the <strong data-start=\"1147\" data-end=\"1163\">POW\/MIA flag<\/strong>, first adopted in 1972 by the National League of Families. In 2019, legislation ensured the flag would be flown alongside the U.S. flag at federal properties.<\/p>\n<p data-start=\"1326\" data-end=\"1571\">The flag remains a powerful symbol of the nation&rsquo;s promise never to forget the prisoners of war and those missing in action&mdash;especially those who endured captivity during the Vietnam War. The last U.S. prisoner of war was returned home in 1979.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>IRMO &ndash; The American Legion Post 174 held a solemn ceremony on Friday, September 19 in observance of National POW\/MIA Recognition Day at its headquarters in Irmo. Second Vice Commander Bryan Ritter welcomed guests, followed by the Dutch Fork Color Guard presenting the colors. A POW Remembrance Table stood at<span class=\"more-link\"><a href=\"https:\/\/gpstrianglenews.com\/index.php\/2025\/09\/23\/american-legion-post-174-honors-national-pow-mia-recognition-day\/\">Continue Reading<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":7659,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[1155,32,1156,40],"tags":[],"class_list":["entry","author-john-griggs","post-7658","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-american-legion-post-174","category-events","category-honors","category-military"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/gpstrianglenews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/National-POW-MIA-Recognition-Day-_2025_630x350.jpg?fit=630%2C350&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/gpstrianglenews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7658","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/gpstrianglenews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/gpstrianglenews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gpstrianglenews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gpstrianglenews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7658"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/gpstrianglenews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7658\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gpstrianglenews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/7659"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/gpstrianglenews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7658"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gpstrianglenews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7658"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gpstrianglenews.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7658"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}