POW/MIA Recognition Day

By Gaurav Roy

The United States will observe POW/MIA Recognition Day on September 18 this year. The celebrations of POW/MIA Recognition Day happens on the third Friday of September each year. It is the designated day to honor the sacrifices made by prisoners of war and the members who have been missing in action. It’s hard to believe there was no POW/MIA Recognition Day to honor these brave men and women in uniform before 1979.

The first POW/MIA day began at the Washington National Cathedral. A remembrance ceremony took place there, but the Pentagon has been hosting the official Department of Defense POW/MIA day of observance since then. Other US military installations, too, hold an observance on the POW/MIA day.

There’s no one specific way of how Americans have been observing POW/MIA Day. Americans have been honoring this day in many different ways, including some of the National Park Service sites. Even private organizations like Veterans of Foreign Affairs hold an observation on POW/MIA day. They arrange events and activities at many of their outposts throughout the United States.

The POW/MIA flag has attained an iconic status among the Americans. Many are unaware that the iconic flag predates even the POW/MIA day? It is believed that Mary Hoff, a military spouse, requested a private company to make a flag in 1971. This flag was to honor the soldiers who were missing in action or became prisoners of war. Newt Heisley, a WW2 pilot, designed the iconic POW/MIA flag.

On POW/MIA Day, the iconic POW/MIA flag is flown just below the United States flag. It is precisely how the POW/MIA flag is displayed in the White House. As per the Department of Defense, the POW/MIA flag is the only flag displayed in the White House.

In 1998, the US Congress ordered to include the POW/MIA flag among the flags displayed on Memorial Day, Independence Day, Flag Day, and Armed Forces Day in this manner.

More than 83,000 US military members are missing since WW2 to the current time. These statistics come from the official website of the Defense POW/ MIA Accounting Agency. The majority of the missing in action service members are from World War II.

The second war with the higher number of soldiers missing was in the Korean Conflict. 7000 American soldiers were missing in action from the Korean War. The next is the Vietnam war with 1600 POW/MIAs, followed by Cold War with 126 listed POW/MIAs. Six American soldiers are still unaccounted for the conflicts that the United States took part in after 1991.

In the 1970s, Americans started wearing bracelets in large numbers in remembrance of prisoners of war and the soldiers missing in action. Many veterans and their families still wear bracelets to remember those killed in action during recent conflicts.

Remembering the soldiers who made extreme sacrifices for us is more important than any physical display. Regardless of how much time has passed, we should pray that they will soon return home.