A ceremony to commemorate National POW/MIA Recognition Day will be held on the South Lawn of the Alabama State Capitol at 10:30 a.m. on Saturday, Sept. 16.

The ceremony will honor and remember the brave men and women who endured the hardships as Prisoners of War, the Missing in Action who are still unaccounted for, and pay special recognition to their families who bore the cost of war.

U.S. Army Major General (Ret.) Janet Cobb, who serves as executive director of the USS Alabama Battleship Commission and Battleship Memorial Park, will give the keynote address. She was commissioned a Second Lieutenant, Signal Corps in May 1978 from the University of Alabama ROTC program, where she was named a Distinguished Military Graduate. MG (Ret.) Cobb was the fifty-fourth general officer and first female general officer to graduate from the University of Alabama. In April 2017, MG (Ret.) Cobb was one of seven selectees for the inaugural University of Alabama ROTC Hall of Fame. In 2016, she was retired from the Army of the United States after 42 years in uniform. Her decorations include the Distinguished Service Medal, Legion of Merit, Bronze Star Medal, Defense Meritorious Service Medal, Meritorious Service Medal (3), and various campaign and service awards.

The ceremony will include the raising of the POW/MIA Flag, feature patriotic music, a wreath laying ceremony, and the playing of Taps. Traditionally held on the third Friday in September, the ceremony was moved to Saturday to accommodate and encourage public attendance.

The observance is one of six days of the year that Congress has mandated flying of the POW/MIA flag at federal buildings. The Alabama Legislature passed legislation in 2008 that allows for the POW/MIA flag to be flown at state buildings as well.