A Message from National Commander Selina Kanowitz Jewish War Veterans of the USA on National POW/MIA Recognition Day
On September 18, 2026, National POW/MIA Recognition Day, the Jewish War Veterans of the USA pauses to honor the brave Americans who endured the unimaginable as prisoners of war and those who remain missing in action. The POW/MIA Flag flies at the White House, the U.S. Capitol, military installations, and national cemeteries. Ken Greenberg will represent JWV at the official national ceremony at the Pentagon.
“As the nation’s longest-serving veterans service organization, JWV continues to strongly support the No Veteran Left Behind mission and to provide support to the families of POW/MIA servicemen and women who deserve closure,” said National Commander Selina Kanowitz, MSgt. USAFR (Ret.). Kanowitz added, “When JWV displays the POW/MIA flag and holds the Missing Man Table ceremony, we demonstrate our solidarity with families still awaiting answers. May the memory of our prisoners of war and those missing in action remain a constant source of blessing and a reminder of the true cost of our freedom.”
Jewish Americans have served in every American conflict, from before the Revolutionary War to the present, often facing distinct dangers if captured by enemy forces. Today, we pay special tribute to two of our own:
First Lieutenant Felix Philip Schlamberg (U.S. Army Air Forces): A Jewish pilot who went missing in action on August 14, 1945, during one of the final combat missions of World War II over the Pacific. Eighty-one years later, his fate remains unknown, and he is remembered as one of America’s unrecovered heroes.
Eugene “Mandy” Mandeberg (U.S. Navy) enlisted at 18 to become a pilot supporting the U.S. Allied effort in World War II. He flew a Grumman F6F-5 Hellcat fighter-bomber from the aircraft carrier USS Yorktown. He was shot down and killed on August 15, 1945 while on a mission over Japan after the Emperor’s surrender and the war’s technical end. Eugene was presumed “lost at sea,” but many years later the U.S. Navy determined that he had crashed in a field near Yokohama, where a Buddhist priest had buried his remains near a Buddhist temple. Eighty years after he was shot down, a new DNA test conclusively identified his remains. On Sunday, September 14, 2025, he was buried with full military honors at Beth El Memorial Cemetery in Livonia, Michigan.
The Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency (DPAA) continuously deploys global investigation and recovery teams to locate, identify, and repatriate service members, providing their families with long-awaited closure. JWV’s Ken Greenberg attends DPAA quarterly briefings and receives updates on DPAA activities. For more information, see here. JWV continues to urge Congress to fully fund the recovery and repatriation of all missing service members.
History and US Efforts to Locate the Missing
Established by a Presidential Executive Order in 1979, the event was first held on July 18, 1979. In 1986, the third Friday in September became the commemoration’s permanent date. Congress codified the event in the 1998 National Defense Authorization Act.
DPAA tracks statistics from past conflicts and estimates that just under 81,000 American service members remain officially unaccounted for. Forensic and historical experts say 38,000 of these individuals are actively recoverable. The remaining individuals are from losses where recovery is sadly unlikely, such as those lost at sea. Current estimates by conflict are: World War II: 71,688; Korean War: 7,356; Vietnam War: 1,565; Cold War: 126; and Iraq War & Other Recent Conflicts: 6.
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About Jewish War Veterans of the United States of America
Founded in 1896 by Jewish Civil War veterans in response to false claims that Jews had not served their country, the Jewish War Veterans of the U.S.A. is the nation’s longest active veterans service organization. For 130 years, JWV has advocated for all of America’s veterans, defended the honor and contributions of Jewish members of the U.S. Armed Forces, fought antisemitism, and championed the democratic values and religious freedoms that American veterans have served to protect.
For more information about The Jewish War Veterans of the United States of America, visit https://www.jwv.org.
