POW/MIA Day Run

Service members, spouses, friends and volunteers from Los Angeles Air Force Base and all branches of the military participated in a 24-hour torch relay in remembrance and to honor those who were held captive, or are still missing and unaccounted for during times of armed conflict, Sept. 20-21. The ceremony officially began at 9 a.m. on Terminal Island in the port of San Pedro. Col. John C. Claxton, deputy director of the Space and Missile Systems Center’s Global Positioning Directorate at Los Angeles Air Force Base in El Segundo, and Cmdr. William B. Winburn, commanding officer of U.S. Coast Guard Base Los Angeles-Long Beach helped light the ceremonial torch. The torch was carried by teams of runners across the Vincent Thomas Bridge, along the waterfront in San Pedro, the Palos Verdes Pennisula, Redondo Beach, Hermosa Beach, Manhattan Beach, El Segundo, and an all-night run carrying the torch around the running track encircling the Schriever Space Complex.