WHO:  Keynote Speaker Zack Roberts, Former Prisoner of War
Ocean Township Elementary School 5th Grade Students
The Monmouth County Police Pipes and Drums 
Anna Biber, Past National President, American Gold Star Mothers 

WHAT: POW/MIA and Gold Star Mothers Recognition Day 

WHEN: Friday, September 21, 2000 at 11:00 AM

WHERE: New Jersey Vietnam Veterans’ Memorial 
located on the grounds of the PNC Bank Arts Center, Holmdel, NJ

DETAILS: The third Friday of September is National POW/MIA Recognition Day.  Ceremonies are held throughout the country in honor of America’s POW/MIAs, those returned and those still unaccounted for from our nation’s wars.

This year’s keynote speaker is Mr. Zack Roberts of Mountainside, NJ.  Roberts served in the US Army 45th Infantry Division in North Africa, Sicily and Italy.  He was captured on February 18, 1944 at Anzio beachhead in Italy and was interned in a German Prison Camp for 15 months.  After his service, Roberts served as Judge Advocate, Department of New Jersey for almost twenty years.  He is the Past National Commander for the American Ex-Prisoners of War.

To honor the New Jersey men that still remain listed as missing in action from the Vietnam War, students from Mrs. Darlene Biasi’s 5th Grade class at Ocean Township Elementary School in Oakhurst will read the names of these 57 men.

Mrs. Anna Biber, Past National President of American Gold Star Mothers will be leading the Pledge of Allegiance.  Biber’s son, Sgt. Joseph F. Biber of Wayne, was killed in action on September 19. 1968.  Gold Star Mothers Day is nationally recognized on the last Sunday of September, as proclaimed by President Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1936.

The NJ Vietnam Veterans’ Memorial is located at exit 116 of the Garden State Parkway and is open 24 hours, 7 days a week.  The adjacent Vietnam Era Educational Center is open Tuesday through Saturday, 10 AM – 4 PM.  The Center will waive its normal admission fees on September 21.