This year’s ceremony to observe National POW/MIA Recognition Day takes place at 6:30 p.m. Friday, Sept. 18, at the Bartholomew County Memorial for Veterans behind the courthouse. The ceremony, held rain or shine, will include the reading of 63 names of service members from the area who were declared prisoners of war, missing in action or both. A bell will ring after each name.

The program will feature guest speaker Guy Tedesco as well as performances by the Columbus Indiana Children’s Choir, vocalist and Pastor Harvey Leggett, bugler Michael Schmelz of the Columbus City Band, and Southern Indiana Pipes and Drums. Marine veteran Zack Ellison will serve as emcee. Chris Fitzsimmons, an Iraq War veteran, will read the names, and Gold Star mother Deb Kleinschmidt will ring the bell after each one. Music and sound will be provided by Mike Asher of Midnight Express Entertainment, and the Bartholomew County Honor Guard will participate.

Tedesco will also participate in a remembrance event this weekend at the Italian POW Chapel at Camp Atterbury. September 20 is a national day of remembrance in Italy honoring Italian soldiers executed by German forces during World War II for refusing to fight against Allied troops. Tedesco’s uncle was among those killed.

Organizers noted that the headstone for C. Dennis Chomel has been moved from the POW/MIA Plaza at Third and Jackson streets to Section 87, Plot 99 at Garland Brook Cemetery, where it awaits his return.

More than 80,000 U.S. service members remain unaccounted for since World War II, according to the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency.