National convention gathering features candle-lighting, music and wreaths for all who served and are no longer here.
American Legion National Chaplain Daniel DePozo of Nevada called upon thousands of veterans and their family members to prayerfully remember those who served in the U.S. Armed Forces and did not come home.
“We give thanks to our God and savior, that he will forever keep our POWs and MIAs in his love and bring them home soon,” DePozo said at the Patriotic Memorial Service Sunday during the 106th American Legion National Convention at the Tampa, Fla., Convention Center.
“Let us remember those fellow comrades who remain prisoners of war and are missing in action,” he told the crowd, “…as I direct your attention to the round table covered with white cloth and an empty chair draped with the POW/MIA flag. May we be ever reminded of those for whom a final accounting has not been made.”
2025 American Legion Boys Nation President Luke Lawson of Alabama lit the Candle of Remembrance for the POWs/MIAs before advanced sopranos and altos of the Lumina Youth Choir Stele sang for the second time of the morning service.
American Legion National Commander James A. LaCoursiere Jr. joined National Adjutant Rodney K. Rolland in a memorial wreath-laying ceremony, as did American Legion Auxiliary National President Trish Ward and National Secretary Linda Boone, and Sons of The American Legion National Commander Joseph Navarrete and SAL National Adjutant Anthony Wright.
The Newport Harbor, Calif., American Legion Post 291 Color Guard – winner of the 2022, 2023 and 2024 national competition – presented and retired the colors.
Longtime American Legion National Convention organist Rick Pedro of Apalachin, N.Y., performed the musical prelude and postlude for the ceremony.
- Convention