The Ohio Department of Transportation and the Ohio Department of Veterans Services host the inaugural raising of the POW/MIA flag at a ceremony on Wednesday, September 14, at the Ohio Department of Transportation rest stop on I-70 east, mile marker 130, in Licking County.

Director Jerry Wray of the Department of Transportation and Tom Moe of the Department of Veterans Services provide appropriate remarks, and the flag attached below the U.S. colors and raised by an Honor Guard from the Ohio National Guard.

This ceremony marks the first raising of a POW/MIA flag at an Ohio rest stop. The Department of Transportation is placing the flags at all Ohio rest stops.

Wednesday's date was chosen to coincide with National POW/MIA Recognition Day, which is Friday, September 16. Representatives of central Ohio veterans' organizations and the Ohio National Guard attend ceremony.

The idea for the POW/MIA flag was conceived in 1971 by the wife of a soldier missing in Vietnam, and the flag itself was designed by a World War II veteran. It symbolizes the concerns of families and the resolve of Americans to never forget the men and women who have sacrificed their freedom to protect the U.S.