THE POW/MIA FLAG

Adopted in 1972, it consists of the official emblem of the National League of Families of American Prisoners and Missing in Southeast Asia.  

In 2019, the National POW/MIA Flag Act was signed into law, requiring the POW/MIA Flag to be flown on certan federal properties, including the U.S.. Capitol Building, on all days the U.S. flag is flown.

The flag symbolizes support and care for the solidiers, airmen and sailors who served in the United State in the Vietnam War, especially those who endured capture by the enemy.

History

In 1971, Mary Hoff, a member of National League of Families of American Prisoners and Missing in Southeast Asia and wife of MIA Lt. Commander Michael Hoff, U.S.N. proposed the creation of a symbol for American POW/MIA's.  The POW/MIA flag was created for the National League of Families of American Prisoners and Missing in Southeast Asia and is officially recognized by the U.S. Congress in conjunction with the Vietnam War POW/MIA issue.  It is a symbol of our Nation's concern and commitment to resolving the fates of Americans still prisoner, missing and unaccounted in Southeast Asia and other American Wars and Conflicts.

Evelyn Grubb, wife of a POW and National Coordinator of the League of Families of American Prisoners and Missing in Southeast Asia, oversaw the development of the POW/MIA flag and campaigned to gain its widespread acceptance and use by the U.S. federal government, local governments and civilian organizations.

The POW/MIA flag was flown over the White House for the first time in September, 1982.  On March 9, 1989, a POW/MIA flag that had flown over the White House on the 1988 National POW/MIA Recognition Day was installed in the U.S. Capitol rotunda.

​On August 10, 1990, Congress passed U.S. Public Law 101-355, recognizing the POW/MIA flag and designating it a symbol of our Nation's concern and commitment to resolving as fully as possible the fates of the fates of Americans still prisoner, missing and unaccounted in Southeast Asia.  Over the years, the POW/MIA flag has grown into a symbol for POW/MIA Americans from all U.S. Wars and Conflicts.

Protocol

When displayed from a single flagpole, the POW/MIA flag should fly directly below, and be no larger than, the U.S. flag.  If on separate poles, the U.S. flag should always be placed to the right of the other flags (the viewer's left; the flag's own right.)  On the six national observances fow which Congress has ordered display of the flag, it is generally flown immediately below or adjacent to the U.S. flag as second in order of precedence.

The National POW/MIA Flag Act ensures that the POW/MIA flag is displayed whenever the U.S. flag is displayed a certain locations including,  the U.S. Capitol, the White House, the World War II Memorial, the Korean War Veterans Memorial, the Vietnam Veterans Memorial, every national cemetery, buildings containing the official ofices of the Secretaries of State, Defense and Veterans Affairs, the office of the Director of the Selective Service System, each major Military installation, each Department of Veterans Affairs medical center, clinics and Veterans Benefits Administration offices, as well each United State Postal Service Post Office.

In U.S. Armed Forces, the dining halls, mess halls and chow halls display a single table and chair in a corner draped with the flag as a symbol for the missing, thus resserving a chair in hopes of the return.  This table is known as the Missing Man Table.  Learn more about the Missing Man Table HERE.​

All information from this page was derived from Wikipedia.  Learn more HERE.