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TimeLines of Liberty
American Holidays |
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National
POW/MIA
Recognition Day
Last updated July, 2006 |
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Prisoners of War -
Missing in Action - Pow/Mia flag - Pow
Bracelets
National POW / MIA
Remembrance Day is on the third Friday of
September.
On that day we celebrate paying tribute and
respect to those, in all wars, that have been designated
as Prisoners of War (POW) and Missing in Action (MIA).
"...the real heroes are those who did not return to enjoy the
freedoms they fought so hard to preserve."
- former Korean POW, Maurice Sharp. |
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1960s |
POW
Bracelet |
In the 1960s during the
Vietnam War Voices In Vital America (VIVA, a student
organization based in Los Angeles,
California) began the
POW/MIA Bracelet Campaign with Carol Bates Brown as Chairman of
the project. The Concept began with students Carol Brown and Kay
Hunter as a way to remember the American POWs (Prisoners of War)
suffering as captives in Southeast Asia. |
|
1967 |
March
MIA |
On March 24, 1967 LCDR John "Buzz" Ellison and LTJG Jim Plowman
were placed in MIA "Missing in Action" status after the raday
disappearance of thier Buckeye aircraft near the Gulf of Tonkin
after participation in the strike force against the Bac Giang
thermal power plant in North Vietnam. Neither man was reported
as captured or dead by the Vietnamese. |
|
1969 |
POW
Bracelet |
In late 1969
California TV personality,
Bob Dornan (who later became a U.S. Congressman) introduced
several members of VIVA to three wives of missing pilots. The
wives and students began to work together to bring a positive
involvement of students in a program of support for the U.S.
soldiers without becoming embroiled in the controversy of the
war. The idea of circulating petitions and letters to Hanoi
demanding humane treatment for POWs was found appealing.
The League of POW/MIA families had not yet been formed.
Relatives and friends of the three missing pilots and the
students began to organize locally. |
|
1969 |
POW
Bracelet |
Bob Dornan, the
California TV personality,
had been wearing a bracelet he received from Vietnamese hill
tribesmen, that reminded him of the suffering the war brought to
so many. |
|
1970 |
POW
Bracelet |
At about the beginning of
1970, VIVA had no funding but solicited a Santa Monica engraver
who donated 10 sample bracelets made of silver (for horse
decorating) engraved with a name, rank and date of loss.
With the engraver on the telephone, the members of VIVA were
unable to think of anything but the basic information, that
later will prove to be fully appropriate. |
|
1970 |
May
League |
The National League of
Families of American Prisoners and Missing in Southeast Asia was
formed. The League incorporated in the
District of Columbia on
May 28, 1970. The League's primary goal is the accountability of
the unknown status, missing in action or prisoners of war, of
American Soldiers. The League interprets official intelligence
reports as to the knowledge of whereabouts of captives alive in
Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia that were not returned at the end of
the Vietnam War. |
|
1970 |
Spring
POW
Bracelet |
During spring and summer
of 1970, with sample bracelets in hand the VIVA members sought
funding to distribute bracelets to college students. They had
not yet realizing that adults would be willing to wear the
unattractive bracelets. Attempts to solicit Ross Perot, Howard
Hughes and of course others came up empty. Late summer of |
|
1970 |
Summer
POW
Bracelet |
Finally in late summer of
1970 the husband of student advisor, Gloria Coppin, donated
enough brass and silver to make 1200 bracelets. The Santa
Monica,
California engraver agreed
to make the bracelets with VIVA paying for them from the
proceeds. VIVA charged the students $2.50 for the bracelets, the
cost of a 1970 theater ticket, and $3.00 to adults who it was
assumed could afford more. Copper bracelets were offered to
adults to take advantage of the current fad of wearing copper
bracelets for arthritis. |
|
1970 |
September
League |
The National League of
Families of American Prisoners and Missing in Southeast Asia
hold their first annual meeting in Washington,
D.C. in late September of
1970. |
|
1970 |
September
POW
Bracelet |
Local POW/MIA relatives
had suggested that VIVA attend the National League of Families
first annual meeting in Washington,
D.C. in late September.
Reception of the bracelets were great among the wives and
parents of POW/MIAs who were willing to help in any
distribution. |
|
1970 |
POW
Bracelet |
Bob Dornan, the
California TV personality,
who had always championed POW/MIAs and their families, continued
publicizing the POW/MIA bracelet on his Los Angeles Television
talk show. |
|
1970 |
November
POW
Bracelet |
November 11, 1970,
Veterans Day, was the official kickoff of the bracelet program
with a news conference at the Universal Sheraton Hotel.
Eventually there were requests for over 12,000 bracelets each
day. The proceeds brought in money for brochures, bumper
stickers, buttons and other advertising to promote the POW/MIA
issue. |
|
1971 |
POW/MIA flag |
Mrs. Michael Hoff, the
wife of MIA Michael Hoff, and member of the National
League of Families recognized in 1971 the need for a symbol of
our POW/MIAs. Mrs Hoff had contacted Norman Rivkees, the
president of the flag manufacturer, Annin & Company. Sympathetic
to the issue, he with the help of his Advertising agency designed
the POW/MIA flag. Newton Heisley
was commissioned to produce three renditions. After approval of the National League of
Families the flags were manufactured for distribution. |
|
1971 |
POW/MIA flag |
Newton Heisley, drawing on memories as a World War II pilot,
imagining what it would be like to have been shot down and taken
captive, sketches three designs, in 1971, commissioned for
consideration as the emblem on the POW/MIA flag. |
|
POW/MIA flag colors |
A black
background, the center bearing, in black and white, the emblem
of the League. The emblem: a white disk bearing a black
silhouette bust of a man facing right with head lowered, past
his back a camp tower with an armed guard, and a strand of
barbed wire horizontal below his chin; white letters POW and MIA
separated by a star curves over the top of the disk; below is a
wreath above the motto, "YOU ARE NOT FORGOTTEN". The colors have
been altered over the year switching from black with white; to
red, white and blue; to white with black. At times the POW/MIA
had been revised to MIA/POW. |
|
1973 |
February
POW |
February 12th, 1973 saw the first U.S. POWs release by Hanoi. |
|
1973 |
March
POW |
The last 67 POWs that were held by the DRV were allowed to leave
Hanoi in March 1973. |
|
1976 |
POW
Bracelet |
Vietnam War Voices In
Vital America (VIVA) closed its doors in 1976 during a time when
the American public became tired of hearing about the Vietnam
war and became desensitized on the POW/MIA issue. Nearly five
million bracelets were sold raising enough money to produce
untold millions of bumper stickers, butttons, brochures,
matchbooks, advertising to draw attention to America's missing
in action and prisoners of war. |
|
1979 |
POW/MIA
Day
Ceremony |
1979 is the first year
that Congress passes resolutions for a national ceremony to
honor America's POW/MIAs; those returned and those still
missing. That first year the ceremony was at the National
Cathedral, Washington, D.C.,
The missing man formation was by the 1st Tactical Squadron,
Langley AFB, Virginia. |
|
1980s |
POW/MIA
Day |
American ex-POWs had
decided on April 9th, as the date of observance, as that was the
date in WWII that the largest number of Americans were taken
prisoner. |
|
1982 |
POW/MIA flag |
The POW/MIA flag is flown
over the White House on National POW/MIA Recognition Day, in
1982 for the first time becoming a tradition. The POW/MIA is the
only flag other than Old Glory to freely fly in that honored
place. |
|
1984 |
Ceremony |
President Ronald Reagan hosted the 1984 National POW/MIA
Recognition Day ceremony at the White House. The Reagan
Administration focused the honor of all returned Prisoners of
War and those still Missing in Action with the commitment to an
accounting of those still missing. |
|
1985 |
POW/MIA
Day |
The National League of Families began to support the expansion
of National POW/MIA
Recognition Day to accommodate all returned POWs and all
Americans still missing and unaccounted for from all wars |
|
1985 |
POW/MIA
Day |
The 1985 ceremony of National POW/MIA Recognition Day was
canceled due to bad weather; concerns of inclement weather were
expressed when the April 9th date was suggested. To avoid bad
weather and to accommodate all returned POWs and missing
Americans from all wars, the date was changed to the third
Friday in September, a date not associated with any war. |
|
1986 |
Ceremony |
Most National POW/MIA
Recognition Day ceremonies had been held at the Pentagon,
however, on September 19, 1986 the National ceremony was on the
steps of the U.S. Capitol facing the Mall. The Missing Man
formation again flew concluding the ceremony. |
|
1987 |
The Run |
The motor cycle run
"Rolling Thunder®
Ride for Freedom" was born in 1987. It was to highlight the
issue of of all POW/MIAs. |
|
1988 |
The Run |
2,500 motorcycles from
across America rolled on Washington,
D.C. on Memorial Day
Weekend of 1988. |
|
1988 |
POW/MIA
flag |
The 100th Congress passed a law, in 1988, allowing the
POW/MIA flag to fly in the
U.S. Capitol Rotunda. |
|
1989 |
March
POW/MIA
flag |
An official National
League of Families' POW/MIA flag flew over the White House on
National POW/MIA Recognition Day, March 9, 1989. As the first
flag representing POWs and MIAs, to be displayed in the U.S.
Capitol Rotunda, it will remain until the most complete
accounting of those still missing from the Vietnam War can be
achieved. The POW/MIA flag is the only flag other than
the National Standard to be displayed in this place of honor,
and has flown there each year on POW/MIA day. |
|
1990 |
August
POW/MIA
flag |
The 101st Congress passed
U.S. Public Law 101-355 on August 10, 1990 recognizing the
POW/MIA flag designating it as the "symbol of our Nation’s
concern and commitment to resolving as fully as possible the
fates of Americans still prisoner, missing and unaccounted for
in Southeast Asia, thus ending the uncertainty for their
families and the Nation". |
|
1995 |
POW/MIA
Day |
Congress had been passing
resolutions since 1979 to observe a National POW/MIA Recognition
Day. In 1995 a law was passed that moved the proclamation to the
U.S. President who will sign a proclamation of National POW/MIA
Recognition Day. |
|
1995 |
October
The Run |
In October of 1995, Artie
Muller and Don Luker formed the run "Rolling Thunder®"
into a corporation. The non-profit paperwork arrived in January
1996. |
|
1995 |
Stamp |
The POW/MIA stamp was
approved for use by the U.S. Postal Service in 1995. |
|
1997 |
Admin. |
The Missing Service
Personnel Act of 1997 attempts to prevent the arbitrary "killing
on paper" of missing personnel without credible proof of death. |
|
1998 |
February
Blackout |
The first POW/MIA Internet Blackout Day began on February 1,
1998. It has been held and continued to this day. See the
website of
POW/MIA Internet Blackout Day |
|
1998 |
March
POW/MIA
flag |
The
105th Congress passage of Section 1082 of the 1998 Defense
Authorization Act requires that the POW/MIA flag be unfurled to
flay below the American flag six days each year: Armed Forces
Day, Memorial Day, Flag Day, Independence Day, National POW/MIA
Recognition Day and Veterans Day. It is to be displayed on staff
below the American flag at the White House, the U.S. Capitol,
the Departments of State, Defense and Veterans Affairs,
headquarters of the Selective Service System, major military
installations as designated by the Secretary of the Defense, all
Federal cemeteries and all offices of the U.S. Postal Service. |
|
1999 |
September
POW/MIA Day |
On September 18, 1999 the
Veterans Memorial Museum honors over 50 former Prisoners of War
at For Borst Park in Centralia,
Washington.
This ceremony was the first annual POW/MIA Remembrance Day
observance by the Veterans Memorial Museum. |
|
2000 |
September
Proclaim |
President William J. Clinton
on September 14, 2000 issued a proclamation declaring
September 15,
2000, as National POW/MIA Recognition Day.
"I call
upon all Americans to join me in remembering former American
prisoners of war who suffered the hardships of enemy
captivity and those missing in action whose fate is still
undetermined. I call upon Federal, State, and local
government officials and private organizations to observe
this day with appropriate ceremonies and activities."
- President William J.
Clinton
|
|
2000 |
Admin |
Bring Them Home Alive Act
of 2000 is approved. The act grants refugee status in the United
States of nationals of certain foreign countries where American
POW/MIAs may be present, provided the individuals are able to
assist in returning POW/MIAs alive. |
|
2001 |
March
MIA |
LTJG Jim Plowman, MIA since March 1967, after an approved
Presumptive Finding of Death, was reclassified to "Died while
Missing." vietnam had never admitted the capture or death of Jim
Plowman or LCDR John "Buzz" Ellison. |
|
2001 |
September
Proclaim |
President George Walker Bush
makes the yearly proclamation of National POW/MIA Recognition
Day on September 21, 2001.
"The noble ideals that became our Nation's
constitutional foundation were formed over two centuries ago
in the hearts of courageous patriots who risked their lives
in the name of liberty and justice. Throughout our history,
American patriots have risen to answer the call when the
enemies of freedom have jeopardized our liberties. Our
military history is replete with heroes who put love of
country above their own well-being. In answering the call
to defend our ideals, generations of brave Americans have
left home and family to protect our great Nation, some never
to return.
National POW/MIA Recognition Day is notably
significant for many American families. It reminds us of
the men and women who withstood great hardship while
imprisoned by our Nation's enemies; and it reminds us of
those still missing, loved ones lost at war but whose fate
is not yet fully known. We will not forget these patriots
who were willing to give their all to preserve and protect
our freedoms."
- President George Walker
Bush.
|
|
2001 |
Admin |
Persian Gulf War POW/MIA
Accountability Act of 2001 (S-1339) ammends the Bring Them Home
Alive Act of 2000, providing an asylum program in respect to
American Persian Gulf Pow/MIAs. |
|
2002 |
POW/MIA
flag |
Congress passes a law in
2002 that the POW/MIA flag must fly year-round at the National
Vietnam Veterans Memorial, the Korean War Veterans Memorial and
the World War II Memorial. |
|
2002 |
September
Proclaim |
President George Walker Bush
makes the yearly proclamation of National POW/MIA Recognition
Day on September 19, 2002.
"Throughout
American history, many men and women have bravely served in
our military and sacrificed much to preserve our country and
protect the democratic ideals that make our Nation a beacon
of hope. Some of those who answered the call to service were
captured in conflict and imprisoned by our enemies; and many
remain missing in action."
- President George Walker
Bush.
|
|
2003 |
Observance |
Marines and Sailors aboard
the USS Peleliu had gathered to pay tribute to all service
members designated as Prisoner of War or Missing in Action on
September 19, 2003. Colonel Michael R. Regner, commanding
officer of the 13th Marine Expeditionary Unit spoke saying:
"Today is our day to remember your grandparents and probably
some of your fathers."
"It gave us a
chance to reflect on those either Missing in Action or Prisoners
of War," Mr. Dawson, a Rock Springs, Wyoming native is quoted,
"It's good to show them that we still think of them and honor
them for what they've sacrificed for us." -
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2003 |
September
Proclaim |
President George Walker Bush
makes the yearly proclamation of National POW/MIA Recognition
Day on September 19, 2004.
"The
sacrifice and service of America's veterans, including those
who became prisoners of war or who went missing in action,
have preserved freedom for America and brought freedom to
millions around the world. On National POW/MIA Recognition
Day, we honor the extraordinary courage of the Americans who
have been prisoners of war, and we pray for those who are
still missing in action and unaccounted for. This Nation
also remembers the challenges and heartache endured by the
families of prisoners of war and missing in action. We seek
answers for the families of those who are still missing, and
we will not rest until we have a full accounting."
- President George Walker
Bush.
|
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2004 |
September
Proclaim |
President George Walker Bush
makes the yearly proclamation of National POW/MIA Recognition
Day on September 14, 2004.
"Throughout
our history, when the enemies of freedom were on the march
and our country needed brave Americans to take up arms and
stop their advance, the members of our Armed Forces answered
the call of duty. These patriotic men and women defended our
country in hours of need and continue to stand watch for
freedom. Many of these courageous individuals risked
capture, imprison-ment, and their lives to protect our
homeland. On National POW/MIA Recognition Day, we honor the
sacrifices and remarkable determination of those captured as
prisoners of war. We also remember those who remain
unaccounted for and ask for God's special blessing on their
families. Our Nation will not forget these heroes, and we
will not stop searching for our service members who are
missing in action."
- President George Walker
Bush.
|
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2005 |
September
Proclaim |
President George Walker Bush
makes the yearly proclamation of National POW/MIA Recognition
Day on September 16, 2005.
"In
every generation, members of our Armed Forces have answered
the call of service in our Nation's hour of need. These
patriots have defended our freedom and way of life,
triumphed over brutal enemies, and answered the prayers of
millions. On National POW/MIA Recognition Day, we honor the
Americans who have been prisoners of war and recognize them
for enduring unimaginable hardships while serving in
military conflicts around the globe. We also remember those
who are still missing in action, and we renew our commitment
to keep searching until we have accounted for every Soldier,
Sailor, Airman, and Marine missing in the line of duty."
- President George Walker
Bush.
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Statistics |
During the period of WWI
through 1999, more than 142,000 service members had been
captured or interned, over 16,000 died as POWs.
4,400 remain missing from World War I. 78,000 still missing from
World War II. 8,100 missing in the Korean War. Over 120 are
missing in the Cold War. More than 1,900 from the Vietnam War.
41 from the 1991 Persian Gulf War (Gulf War I). 14 from the
Bosnia conflict, other operations and the Iraq War (Gulf War
II).
In 2000,
estimates say that about 50,000 former POWs are living among
us. |
Two-fold
Purpose |
National POW/MIA Recognition Day is now observed in ceremonies
throughout the nation and around the world on military
installations, ships at sea, state capitols, at schools,
churches, national veteran and civic organizations, police and
fire departments, fire stations, etc. The focus is two fold; one
to honor those who have been or are POWs and MIAs and that
America remembers it responsibility to those who serve and the
accounting of those who do not return. |
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© Copyright 2005
Roger W Hancock www.PoetPatriot.com |
P O W / M I A
L I N K S |
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SOURCES:
http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2002/09/20020904-10.html
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http://www.emotionscards.com/otherholidays/powmiarecognitionday.html
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http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2004/09/20040914-17.html
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http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2002/09/20020919-12.html
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http://www.usmc.mil/marinelink/mcn2000.nsf/lookupstoryref/200392554235
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http://www.dtic.mil/dpmo/powday/pow_rec_day_00.htm -
http://www.rollingthunder1.com/RT-Fact-Sheet_files/the%20rolling%20thunder%20story%20by%20anne%20nicholson-050403.pdf
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http://www.vfw764.org/pow_mia.htm -
http://www.michigan.gov/gov/0,1607,7-168-23442_25488_32104-126469--,00.html
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http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2005/09/20050916.html
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http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2005/09/20050916.html
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http://www.dtic.mil/dpmo/news/2000/000914_white_house_powmia_proclamation.htm
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http://www.pow-miafamilies.org/flaghistory.html -
http://www.pow-miafamilies.org/powmiarecogday.html -
http://www.pow-miafamilies.org/ -
http://www.dtic.mil/dpmo/powday/flaghistory.htm -
http://www.rollingthunder1.com/arties-words.htm -
http://www.aiipowmia.com/histories/histpwflag.html -
http://www.vfwsc.org/POW_Memo.html -
http://www.powmiaff.org/history_bracelets.html -
http://www.powmiaff.org/gwstatus.html -
http://www.veteransmuseum.org/history.htm -
http://www.richmond.edu/~ebolt/history398/PeaceAccords&ReleaseOfPOWs.html
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http://www.virtualwall.org/dp/PlowmanJE01a.htm -
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