GSW, Andersonville plan POW/MIA event

AMERICUS — Georgia Southwestern State University and Andersonville National Historic Site will host the 12th annual Prisoner of War/Missing in Action (POW/MIA) Convocation on Sept. 13 at 11 a.m. in Georgia Southwestern’s Student Success Center. Mindy Kotler will be the speaker.

The event is free and open to the public.

The convocation is held in conjunction with the POW/MIA Recognition Day, which honors service members who were prisoners of war and those who are still missing in action. Recognition Day will be observed on Sept. 15. The weekend will also honor former POWs and the families of those still MIA with The Ride Home event. The final schedule of the day’s events will be available soon at www.theridehome.com.

Kotler is the founder and director of Asia Policy Point, a membership nonprofit research center in Washington, D.C., that studies the intersection of history and regional security in Northeast Asia.

Kotler is also the editor-in-chief of the Asia Policy Calendar, a weekly electronic newsletter previewing the news, resources, and programs concerning U.S. relations with Asia, and the Japan Brief: Weekly News from Japan. She works closely with members of Congress on issues of history and foreign policy with Japan.

The speaker serves as a volunteer/Washington liaison for the American Defenders of Bataan and Corregidor Memorial Society. She helps draft the organization’s congressional testimony, letters to the administration, and coordinate POW reconciliation trips to Washington.

Kotler received her master of arts degree in International Relations from Yale University and her bachelor of arts degree in Government and History with high honors in Chinese History from Smith College.

Andersonville National Historic Site is located 10 miles south of Oglethorpe and 10 miles northeast of Americus on Georgia Highway 49. The national park features the National Prisoner of War Museum, Andersonville National Cemetery and the site of the historic Civil War prison, Camp Sumter. Andersonville National Historic Site is the only national park within the National Park System to serve as a memorial to all American prisoners of war.

For more information on POW/MIA events, visit www.nps.gov/ande/planyourvisit/powmiarecognition.ht.