SACRAMENTO, California –
The Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency unveiled its 2025 National POW/MIA Recognition Day poster during a ceremony held at the start of its Family Member Update, Feb. 22.
Each year, the agency designs a poster commemorating the lives of United States service members still unaccounted for from past conflicts, showcasing their commitment to bringing them home, and for the first time being unveiled at a Family Member Update.
The ceremony featured remarks from key speakers, including Fern Sumpter Winbush, DPAA deputy director, and Jeanie Jacobs Huffman, a Gold Star Daughter and designer of this year's poster.
“I cannot express my appreciation for this opportunity to create this year’s poster,” said Huffman. “I’m very honored.”
“Having a Gold Star Daughter create this year’s poster shows that the agency is willing to do different and innovative things,” said Sumpter Winbush. “To have a Gold Star Daughter who happens to be an artist, who happens to like to do posters and wanted to do one for us is something very, very special.”
The unveiled poster features one active-duty Marine and four Army cadets from Old Dominion University. They serve as a visual representation of missing service members from multiple military branches. The poster's design emphasizes the importance of never forgetting those who served and those still waiting to come home. Each aspect of the poster was drawn from real cases.
“I always felt a huge void in my life not having my father,” said Huffman. “I believe that each of our missing is still seeking their way home and they expect that our nation’s promise will be kept.”
Huffman was only five months old when her father, Navy Cdr. Edward J. Jacobs Jr. was reported missing in action in the Gulf of Tonkin off the coast of North Vietnam in 1967. Jacobs, still unaccounted for, piloted an RA-3B Skywarrior with two other crew members during a night reconnaissance mission over North Vietnam. Contact was lost with the aircraft and could not be re-established. In 2009, there was an attempt to locate the plane with no success.
“One of the most significant parts of this poster you will see is the POW/MIA flag backdrop.,” said Huffman. “This is an actual flag that was raised at the Norfolk International Airport in Norfolk, Virginia. This flag is a symbol that means so much to the POW/MIA families and our armed forces now serving that they will not be forgotten.”
Since 1973, DPAA and its predecessor organizations have accounted for nearly 1,000 American service members from World War II, more than 450 from the Korean War, and more than 1,000 service members from Vietnam. Last fiscal year, DPAA accounted for 172 missing service members.
“We had a unique opportunity with this being the largest FMU ever, with over 500 people attending,” said Sumpter Winbush. “So that makes it very special, because we had a room full of family members who were really excited to see her creation and all of them that talked to me were very impressed with the work that she did on that poster.”
This ceremony marks another step in the ongoing effort to provide answers for families still waiting to bring their loved ones home. Today, approximately 82,000 are still unaccounted for. DPAA remains committed to providing the fullest possible accounting for America’s missing personnel to their families and the nation.
Those who would like to download or to order a copy of this year’s National POW/MIA Recognition Day Poster can do so at the following link: https://dpaa-mil.sites.crmforce.mil/dpaaFamWebPosters.