Secretary of War Pete Hegseth today paid tribute to the U.S. military's prisoners of war and personnel missing in action during a ceremony commemorating National POW/MIA Recognition Day on the Pentagon's River Parade Field.
Hegseth, who was joined by Army Chief of Staff Gen. Randy George, began his remarks by taking a moment to remember the nation's former POWs, as well as to recognize retired Navy Rear Adm. Robert Shumaker, a former POW who coined the term "Hanoi Hilton" for North Vietnam's notorious Hỏa Lò Prison, and who attended the morning ceremony.
"Thank you, admiral. I hope someday my kids and grandkids come to understand what that would take; the sheer courage [and] fortitude it would take," Hegseth said of Shumaker's resilience while in captivity.
"I can't fathom [what it would take]; but we have such men, and may we always honor and recognize them," he added.
Hegseth went on to recognize the Gold Star family members of POW/MIAs in attendance, emphasizing that the War Department is committed to recovering all of the nearly 38,000 Americans across the world who are unaccounted for and estimated to be recoverable.
"It's our mission to return them to American soil and provide a final resting place here at home for the heroes who fought for their country. It is our commitment to you that we will work unceasingly to bring our warriors home, and we will never forget their service and sacrifice," Hegseth said.
The secretary then spoke of how the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency is the organization primarily responsible for carrying out that aforementioned mission, with a sole objective to provide the fullest possible accounting of the military's missing personnel for their families and the nation.
"Using painstaking historical research, exhaustive, on-the-ground excavations, and the most advanced forensic science techniques, the DPAA is steadfast in its accounting for missing Americans, no matter how far away," Hegseth explained.
After noting that the DPAA has identified the remains of 220 personnel this year alone, Hegseth announced — for the first time — that the DPAA has recently identified the remains of Army Capt. Willibald C. Bianchi, a World War II veteran who earned the Medal of Honor for his actions fighting in the Philippine province of Bataan in 1942.
Hegseth explained how Bianchi went on to survive the Bataan Death March and save the lives of fellow POWs before tragically being killed in the mistaken sinking of a Japanese ship transporting American POWs in early 1945.
"Thanks to [the DPAA's] steadfast work, Capt. Bianchi will be coming home to his family in New Ulm, Minnesota, [and] we'll finally be able to give him the burial he deserves 80 years later," Hegseth said, just before recognizing members of Bianchi's family who attended the ceremony.
The secretary finished his remarks by reemphasizing the department's commitment to identifying as many unaccounted-for service members as possible, stating that the department will never stop, cease or give up the "final commitment to the final act of the greatest Americans."
"And we all pray that someday, a secretary of war, here — 50 years from now on this field — is ensuring that anyone lost on future battlefields is brought home," Hegseth continued.
"It's all I'd want for myself, for my kids, for our generation of warriors: the same level of commitment that's unrelenting and never stops."
National POW/MIA Recognition Day was established in 1979 by way of a proclamation signed by President Jimmy Carter. Since then, every subsequent president has issued an annual proclamation commemorating the third Friday in September as National POW/MIA Recognition Day.