POW / MIA flag
The POW / MIA flag is a flag that the abbreviations POW than English abbreviation for " Prisoners of War (" German : Prisoners of War) and MIA for "Missing in Action" (German: Missing in combat) contains. It was created in 1971 by the National League of Families of American Prisoners and Missing in Southeast Asia . The flag commemorates the American prisoners of war and missing persons .
Of Newton Heisley , a former fighter pilot in World War II , designed, Flag held in black and white shows the silhouette of a head bowed against the backdrop of barbed wire and a watchtower. In addition to the words “ POW * MIA ”, it contains the sentence “ You are not forgotten ” (German: “You are not forgotten”).
The flag, originally designed because of the missing US soldiers in the Vietnam War , today commemorates all Americans missing in wars since the Second World War, a total of more than 88,000 people.
In 1988 the POW / MIA flag flew over the White House for the first time , and has been on the Capitol rotunda continuously since 1989 . In the meantime, the US Congress has regulated the official use of the flag; it is now used on six national holidays ( Armed Forces Day , Memorial Day , Flag Day , Independence Day , Veterans Day and on the third Friday in September, National POW / MIA Day ) hoisted at all post offices , the Capitol , the White House, national cemeteries, military bases and all memorials of the Korean and Vietnam wars.
The POW / MIA flag also flies permanently at the summit of Mount POW / MIA in Alaska , where it is replaced with a new one annually on Memorial Day.
The search for prisoners of war and missing soldiers is the responsibility of the Joint POW / MIA Accounting Commands , a working group of the United States Department of Defense .