National Pow/Mia Recognition Day

Floor Speech

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Ms. MALLIOTAKIS. Mr. Speaker, I rise in honor of National POW/MIA Recognition Day, which is commemorated on the third Friday of September every year. This past weekend I joined the Vietnam Veterans of America in my district to bring attention to the more than 80,000 American servicemembers who were prisoners of war and those still missing in action.

My community of Staten Island, New York, recently learned from the Department of Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency that the remains of U.S. Army Air Forces Second Lieutenant Francis E. Callahan of New Brighton were identified after 80 years. Lieutenant Callahan and 10 other servicemembers were killed in action during World War II when their plane was shot down by an enemy combatant during a bombing mission to Brunswick, Germany.

At the time, the crash site could not be located by Allied forces or Army investigators. However, in 2015, an independent research group, Missing Allied Air Crew Research Team, contacted the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency historians with new information related to a possible crash site near Wistedt, Germany.

The agency's investigators were able to find the location and recovered various pieces of wreckage between 2021 and 2023.

Following extensive laboratory analysis, anthropological and dental analysis, along with the available circumstantial evidence, an association between the remains and Callahan was established. Now Second Lieutenant Callahan will be buried in Arlington National Cemetery to rest with his brothers.

Sadly, 3 of the 10 members of Callahan's crew still remain unaccounted for. They are among the tens of thousands of other servicemembers who remain missing. As a nation grateful to those who served and those who made the ultimate sacrifice, we must continue to raise awareness of this issue and work toward the repatriation of all our POW/MIA and bring closure to their families and communities.

The identification and repatriation of Lieutenant Callahan, along with Private First Class Raymond Smith of Brooklyn, whose remains returned to New York City in 2021, 71 years after he went missing in action during the Korean war, give us renewed hope that our Nation will fulfill its promise and commitment to return every single American who served our Nation on foreign land.

As the POW/MIA flag states, these heroes are not forgotten, and we will do everything we can to honor their memory and bring them home.

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