New POW-MIA license plate donates $25 of $35 cost to injured vets

COLUMBUS

A new license plate honoring soldiers who were held as prisoners of war or are missing in action is now available for purchase in Ohio.

The POW/MIA plate costs $35, with $25 earmarked for a state fund that helps pay medical costs for military men and women injured during recent action in Iraq and Afghanistan.

The plates include the POW/MIA symbol along with the words “Never Forgotten.”

State Sen. John Eklund, R-Chardon, who introduced a bill to create the plate, said he was surprised to learn there was not a POW/MIA plate in Ohio before legislation was signed into law earlier this year.

“To think that, here in Ohio up until now, we have run the risk that servicemen and women’s sacrifices of any kind have gone unacknowledged ... is something that we had to fix, and I believe we have,” he said earlier this week.

Read more about the plates in Friday's Vindicator or on Vindy.com.