History of the POW/MIA FLAG – Hero Honor Gear

 

A national flag that would serve as a constant reminder to all Americans of those missing or captured during the Vietnam War was the brainchild of Mary Hoff, wife of U.S. Navy pilot Lt. Col. Michael Hoff, who was reported missing in action in 1971. Ms. Hoff was a member of the Southeast Asia POW/MIA League.

In an effort to get Norman Rivkees, vice president of Annin & Company, to assist in designing the flag, Ms. Hoff approached him. Rivkees then assigned graphic artist Newton F. Heisley, a World War II veteran who flew C-46 twin-engine transports with the 433rd Aircraft Carrier Group, to design the flag.

The League’s symbol is displayed in the center of the black and white flag. The logo consists of a white circle with a black silhouette of a man’s bust on it. A barbed wire strand is to the front, and a watch tower with a guard branding a gun is behind the silhouette. The white letters POW and MIA are positioned above the disk, with a single white 5-pointed star dividing each letter. The words YOU ARE NOT FORGOTTEN are written in white over a black and white wreath beneath the disk.

There are also several different versions of the flag that have been created. There are POW/MIA cases where the flag is reversed; the flag can alternate between black and white, red and white, or blue and white. The defender is not depicted holding a gun in many flags. The meaning is still there.

Congress designated the POW/MIA flag 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” on August 10, 1990, when it passed U.S. Public Law 101-355. The third Friday in September is designated as National POW/MIA Recognition Day, per Section 1082 of the 1998 Defense Authorization Act.

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