Ex-POW Vietnam Veteran Joe Crecca Keynote Speaker for POW MIA Service

Veterans honor those who came home — and those still missing — during POW/MIA ceremony

My Edmonds News

September 16, 2017

It was a heartfelt homecoming in so many ways, for so many, at the Edmonds Veterans Plaza Friday night.

For an hour, local veterans  —  many of them Vietnam vets — remembered those who became prisoners of war or were declared missing in action during our nation’s conflicts. The occasion was national POW/MIA Day, and nearly 100 people gathered for the remembrance held in the new Veterans Plaza space, which officially opened at 5th and Bell on Memorial Day.

The crowd heard first from keynote speaker Joe Crecca, a former Air Force Major and Vietnam veteran who spent more than six years as a prisoner of war in North Vietnam after being shot down by a surface-to-air missile on Nov. 22, 1966.

A North Bend resident, Crecca described being captured, beaten and interrogated, followed by eight months in solitary confinement. “During that time I tried to keep my mind busy,” he said. “The first thing I did was remember all the presidents of the United States in chronological order, then the states of the union in alphabetical order and all the capitols.” After that, he said, he “started working on math and physics problems and remembering classical music themes.”

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Vietnam Veteran Went Back To Find Buddy, Found Forgiveness

Veteran returns to Vietnam in search for soldier left behind

Cape Cod Times
Adam Lucente
August 15, 2017

Michael Cunningham says loss has weighed on him for 49 years.

HARWICH — An expended M16 round, bomb fragments and helicopter scraps sit in Michael Cunningham’s Harwich home. They constitute small pieces of his memories fighting in Vietnam — memories that are with him today.

Cunningham, 67, served as a rifleman in the Army’s 1st Battalion, 46th Regiment, 198th Light Infantry Brigade in 1968 during the Vietnam War. On July 29 of that year, his unit was on a mission in the Que Son Valley when a helicopter arrived with supplies. Wanting to be “first in the chow line,” he went up the hill so he could unload the helicopter and get some hot food.

What happened next would haunt him for decades.

“The enemy planted a 500-pound bomb on the hill,” said Cunningham, and the bomb exploded. “It brought down the chopper and buried alive a whole bunch of guys.”

Three men were killed and a dozen wounded in the explosion, according to Cunningham. But 24-year-old Staff Sgt. Jerry Auxier, of West Virginia, was unaccounted for.

“We looked all night long. The colonel ordered that we had to leave someone behind. It’s not the most pleasant thing,” he said. “It’s been on my mind the past 49 years.”

Two men among the witnesses were in the militia responsible for the bomb, including the man who detonated it. Cunningham walked right up to them. He gave the man who set off the bomb his 198th Light Infantry Brigade hat. The man put it on and gave Cunningham his hat. 

“They thought I was gonna punch the guy, but it was the total opposite. He was taken advantage of just like me,” Cunningham said. “There were no hard feelings. And I could see in his eyes he felt the same.”read more here

Marine Vietnam Veteran Wonders Who Is In His Grave?

Vietnam veteran recalls coming back from 'dead'
THE WASHINGTON POST
Saturday, July 8, 2017

“You have to be willing to take it a day at a time. You have to set in your mind that you're going to survive. You have to believe that they are not going to defeat you, that you're going to win.” Ronald Ridgeway

HALLETTSVILLE, Texas — Ronald Ridgeway was “killed” in Vietnam on Feb. 25, 1968.

The 18-year-old Marine Corps private first class fell with a bullet to the shoulder during a savage firefight with the enemy outside Khe Sanh.

Dozens of Marines, from what came to be called “the ghost patrol,” perished there.

At first, Ridgeway was listed as missing in action. Back home in Texas, his old school, Sam Houston High, made an announcement over the intercom.

But his mother, Mildred, had a letter from his commanding officer saying there was little hope. And that August, she received a “deeply regret” telegram from the Marines saying he was dead.

On Sept. 10, he was buried in a national cemetery in St. Louis. A tombstone bearing his name and the names of eight others missing from the battle was erected over the grave. His mother went home with a folded American flag.

But as his comrades and family mourned, Ridgeway sat in harsh North Vietnamese prisons for five years, often in solitary confinement, mentally at war with his captors and fighting for a life that was technically over.

Last month, almost 50 years after his supposed demise, Ridgeway, 68, a retired supervisor with Veterans Affairs, sat in his home here and recounted for the first time in detail one of the most remarkable stories of the Vietnam War.

In the end, of the 26 missing and presumed killed in action on Feb. 25, remains of all but nine were positively identified, according to Pipes and Stubbe.

The unassociated body parts were sent home and placed in two caskets that would be buried beneath a large tombstone bearing the nine names of those unaccounted for, Stubbe said.read more here

Lt. Cmdr. Frederick Crosby No Longer MIA

Long-missing Vietnam veteran returns to San Diego
FOX 5 San Diego
BY SHARON CHEN
MAY 26, 2017

It wasn’t until 2015, during the fourth recovery mission, that crews ran into the villager that witnessed Crosby's crash 50 years ago. He led them to the exact location of the wrecked F-8 Crusader plane.

SAN DIEGO – The saga of a San Diego Navy pilot missing in action for 50 years came to a close Friday morning as the remains of Lt. Cmdr. Frederick Crosby returned home.

The Naval commander's flag-draped coffin arrived at Lindbergh Field from Hawaii just after noon.

As his children, all now in late middle age, watched, their emotions flowed.

“It’s nice to be able to let out the tears and to have some relief in our hearts,” said Deborah Crosby.

Crosby had four children. Deborah is his only daughter.
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Vietnam Veteran Still Trying To Get "Brothers" Home

Veteran anxiously awaits mission to bring soldiers' bodies home from Vietnam
The Times-Leader (Wilkes-Barre, Pa.)
By Bill O'Boyle
Published: August 5, 2016

Pfc. Anthony John (Tony) Pepper, left, and Cpl. James Mitchell Trimble.

VIETNAM VETERANS MEMORIAL FUND

WILKES-BARRE, Pa. (Tribune News Service) — Ed Zimmerman’s long journey may soon be over.

Zimmerman, 67, of Bear Creek, will head to South Vietnam on Aug. 10 to assist the U.S. government’s recovery effort to search and, hopefully, recover the remains of Pfc. Anthony John (Tony) Pepper, 20, of Richmond, Virginia, and Cpl. James Mitchell Trimble, 19, of Eureka, California.

“This has been quite an undertaking for me,” Zimmerman said Thursday. “I’ve gone over it mentally so many times. But I’m very confident we will find the location and bring them back.”

Zimmerman said all the preparations for the trip have been made and he can’t wait to get to Vietnam to direct the recovery team to the exact spot where he last saw Trimble and Pepper.

“I’ve been going over things in my mind and I have clarity,” he said. “A lot of the cobwebs have gone away. I know I can find the spot where they were.”

In a Times Leader story in June, Zimmerman said he has not been able to rest, often having nightmares, since learning the bodies of two dead Marines he saw in a ravine in South Vietnam were never recovered — never returned to their families for burial.
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Remains of Vietnam War MIA Sgt. 1st Class Alan Boyer Buried

Long-missing Missoula soldier finally buried in Virginia
The Associated Press
June 24, 2016

After 48 years, the remains of a long-missing Vietnam War veteran

are being laid to rest at Arlington National Cemetery in Virginia.

(Photo: AP)

MISSOULA — After 48 years, the remains of a long-missing Vietnam War veteran are being laid to rest at Arlington National Cemetery in Virginia.

The Missoulian reports that Army Sgt. 1st Class Alan Boyer was buried on Wednesday by his sister, Judi Bouchard, of Florida. Both Bouchard and Boyer moved from Illinois to attend the University of Montana in the 1960s before Boyer left to join the Army.
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More Than 500 Bikes in New Hampshire For Rolling Thunder Freedom Ride

Veterans on motorcycles ride to bring home POWs, MIA soldiers
Rolling Thunder Freedom Ride now in its 23rd year
WMUR News
Kristen Pope
Published Jun 16, 2016

MEREDITH, N.H. —More than 500 people took over the streets of Meredith Thursday in the 23rd Rolling Thunder Freedom Ride.

The annual ride is to show solidarity with prisoners of war and soldiers missing in action.

“You know the old saying: You don’t ever leave anybody behind,” said Vietnam War veteran Claire Starnes. "The mission of the Rolling Thunder is concentrating on bringing back all the POWs and MIAs.”

Starnes is committed to that mission.

“We're going to die or bring them home,” she said. “Even if it’s just the remains. We're going to find them and bring them home.”

It’s easy to marvel over the beautiful, shiny bikes, but the ride is really about people who aren’t here.

“We cover each other,” said veteran Timothy McCarthy. “No matter what happens. We’re all family. It’s another family.”

The ride started at Lowe’s parking lot in Gilford and ended at Hesky Park in Meredith.
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New Head of Wounded Warrior Project At Expense of POW MIA Families?

Wounded Warrior Project gets new leader after troubles
Associated Press
By AUDREY McAVOY
June 16, 2016

Ann Mills-Griffiths, chairwoman of the board at the National League of POW/MIA Families, said she was surprised by Linnington’s announcement. She said he had told her group last year he was at the agency for the long haul, meaning the next 10 years. “I can only say it was a total shock. Just stunning and unexpected,” Mills-Griffiths said.

This May 28, 2012 file photo shows President Barack Obama standing with Maj. Gen. Michael S. Linnington, Commander of the U.S. Army Military District of Washington, during a Memorial Day wreath-laying ceremony at the Tomb of the Unknowns at Arlington National Cemetery in Arlington, Va. Linnington, now retired from the military, plans to leave his post as director of the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency to become the CEO of the Wounded Warrior Project, Thursday, June 16. 2016. (AP Photo/Pablo Martinez Monsivais, File)

HONOLULU (AP) - The head of the military agency that searches for and identifies the remains of missing servicemen is resigning after just one year to take over a troubled nonprofit that cares for wounded troops.

Michael Linnington became the director of the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency last summer. He plans to leave next month to become the CEO of the Wounded Warrior Project.

Linnington became the leader of the POW/MIA mission at the Pentagon after Congress and groups that advocate for families of the missing had criticized the way the military was handling identifications. Since Linnington took the helm, the agency’s laboratories have nearly doubled the identifications of missing servicemen.

At the Wounded Warrior Project, Linnington will lead a nonprofit that has been criticized for lavish spending. The New York Times and CBS News in January reported employees, veterans and charity watchdogs were complaining the organization was profiteering off veterans.
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Welcome Home Last Patrol Remembrance From Rolling Thunder

‘Welcome Home’ event aimed at saluting Vietnam veterans
Tampa Tribune
Linda Chion Kenney
Special Correspondent
April 20, 2016

“We don’t make the policies,” he said. “We don’t make those decisions. We follow the orders we’re given. We perform our duties. We perform our duties and serve with honor.”
U.S. Navy commander and Vietnam veteran Bradley E. Smith Ex-POW

After “The Last Patrol” performance by Rolling Thunder, members, from left, Mike Vitel, Doc Watson and Bill Marion pose by a Vietnam-era helicopter at the Vietnam Memorial at Hillsborough County’s Veterans Memorial Park. LINDA CHION KENNEY

TAMPA — Soldiers seasoned and battle-scarred, and the people who support them, stood in solidarity and solemnity March 26 at Veterans Memorial Park, where “welcome home” was the order of the day for the men and women called to service in the Vietnam War era.

In her very personal remarks, chaplain Linda J. Pugsley, a retired lieutenant colonel, who volunteered for two tours of duty in Vietnam as an aeromedical evacuation nurse, recounted the “soaking, soaking rains” and the “scorching, scorching heat” of Vietnam.

“We are valiant people who served with unswerving bravery in that hostile, unfriendly, ungodly Vietnam,” said Pugsley, who in 1978 resigned her position as flight nurse with the rank of major, to pursue her career in the ministry. “We served our country and our fellow warriors in that most brutal and unwise war. Some of us saw mayhem that none of us should have seen, yet we did not run.”

Vietnam veterans are heroes, she added, deserving of appreciation for “what they did and all that they gave up.”
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Truth More Important to Family of MIA Airman

Vietnam War airman's death re-examined after decades of controversy
Stars and Stripes
By Travis J. Tritten
Published: April 11, 2016

“MIA is not closure, though it is better than this travesty that exists in the file to this day,” said his younger brother John Matejov, who is a retired Marine officer. “We shouldn’t have to fight for that.”

WASHINGTON — The Air Force closed the case on Sgt. Joseph Matejov when his surveillance aircraft went down at the end of the Vietnam War.

The missing airman was deemed killed in the fiery crash, and more than two decades later a group gravestone was installed at Arlington National Cemetery. A single casket containing bone fragments recovered in Laos was lowered into the ground at the 1996 funeral for Matejov and seven fellow Air Force crewmembers.

Officially, it was the end of the military’s accounting.

But the funeral did not bury the controversy over the downed aircraft, call sign Baron 52. The case’s long history is riddled with doubts and disagreements within the Pentagon, intelligence community and Congress over whether Matejov died that night in 1973.

Now, the Air Force and the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency are re-examining the incident after decades of pressure from Matejov’s family and could change his status from killed to missing in action. A decision could be made within weeks.
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Ohio VA Clinic Swaps Bible for 'Prop'

This is from Navy Life on what the Bible on the POW MIA Table means.

"The tradition of setting a separate table in honor of our prisoners of war and missing comrades has been in place since the end of the Vietnam War. The manner in which this table is decorated is full of special symbols to help us remember our brothers and sisters in arms."

"The Bible represents faith in a higher power and the pledge to our country, founded as one nation under God." Yet somehow over the years some folks seemed to manage pretty well putting their lives on the line for others they served with but cannot manage to put up with seeing something like this on a table.  Pretty astonishing when you think about it. 

Ohio VA Clinic Swaps Bible for 'Prop' Book After
Complaint
Military.com
by Bryant Jordan
Apr 06, 2016

A Department of Veterans Affairs clinic in Youngstown, Ohio, substituted a "prop" book for a Bible after a civil rights organization accused the facility of endorsing a particular faith by having only the Christian holy book displayed at a table set up to honor American prisoners of war and missing in action.

In a note to the Military Religious Freedom Foundation on Monday, Kristen Parker, chief of external affairs for Cleveland VA Medical Center -- which handles media for the Youngstown clinic -- said the Bible was "replaced with a generic book, one whose symbolism can be individualized by each of our veterans as they pay their respects" to POWs and MIAs.

Parker told Military.com on Tuesday that because the VA cannot endorse, favor or inhibit any specific religion, "we are supporting our local veteran organizations with their decision to use a prop-book on the POW/MIA Table at our Youngstown [clinic]."

Parker previously said the clinic would support the Disabled American Veterans -- the group that set up the table -- in its decision to display the Bible on the missing man table.

The switch was made after the veteran who initiated the complaint, working with the Military Religious Freedom Foundation, responded to the clinic's initial refusal to pull the Bible by demanding a separate table be set up with the Jewish Torah and a copy of "The God Delusion," a popular book on atheism. "If in the future I decide to add the Quran, or Mormon book of Latter Day Saints, that is my implied right," retired Army Capt. Jordan Ray wrote.
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POW-MIA Traditional Bible Removed from Akron VA

Seems really odd that a tradition that goes back decades suddenly offends a few and is removed while the multitudes finding comfort in the remembrance were forgotten about in a POW-MIA remembrance display.

Bible removed from Akron Veterans Affairs display causes uproar
By Amanda Garrett
Beacon Journal staff writer
March 11, 2016

A small dining table in Akron set up to remember soldiers who never came home — those missing in action or taken prisoner during war — has set off a large national battle over religious symbols in government spaces.

Everything on the POW-MIA table, a tradition since the Vietnam War, is a symbol: The white tablecloth represents the purity of the soldiers’ duty. Salt on a bread plate represents tears shed by soldiers’ families. A Bible has represented faith.

But not all POW-MIAs are Christian.

And when a local soldier, permanently disabled in Afghanistan, saw a red New Testament Bible on a POW-MIA table in the lobby of the Akron Veterans Affairs health care facility last month, he was troubled.

“I know for a fact that all POW-MIAs were not Christian because my grandfather was MIA from World War II and he was Jewish,” the disabled soldier said this week during an interview.

He reached out to a nonprofit that fights for the religious rights of the U.S. armed forces, which in turn contacted the administrator of the Akron VA.

Within days, the Bible was gone.
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Anti-Trump Ads Feature Veterans

Conservative group releases brutal anti-Trump ads featuring veterans calling him a 'con man' 
Business Insider 
Pamela Engel 
Mar 7th 2016 

Military veterans are appearing in ads released over the weekend by an outside group, hoping to stop Donald Trump from snagging the GOP presidential nomination.

The ads, from the conservative American Future Fund, feature veterans disavowing Trump's statements about prisoners of war and end with the text: "Trump's a phony. Stop him now."

In one ad, former Special Forces commander Michael Waltz, who served in Afghanistan, said that Trump "hasn't served this country a day in his life" and called him a Vietnam War draft-dodger.

"He essentially called anyone who is captured in combat a loser," Waltz said. "It's something that I just personally can't stomach and am sickened by, as should every veteran and every soldier in the United States military."

Trump, who is the clear frontrunner for the Republican nomination, criticized Arizona Sen. John McCain last year and called into question his status as a "war hero."

"He's not a war hero," Trump said. "He's a war hero because he was captured. I like people that weren't captured."

Trump quickly walked back that statement and agreed that McCain, a Vietnam War POW, was in fact a war hero. Trump also said that he doesn't like "losers," referring to McCain's loss to President Barack Obama in the 2008 presidential election.
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Fairchild Air Force Base Staff Sgt Disrespectful of POW MIA?

Air Force will take ‘appropriate action’ over viral POW/MIA emblem photo 
Stars and Stripes
By Jon Harper
Published: February 15, 2014

"Second Lt. Rachelle Smith, a spokeswoman for Fairchild Air Force Base, Wash., told Stars and Stripes that the airman in the photo is Staff Sgt. Cherish Byers. She is with the 92nd Security Forces Squadron stationed at Fairchild. Byers was a senior airman when the photo was taken."

This photo of an airman licking a POW sign went viral on Friday.

WASHINGTON — The Air Force is “disappointed” in the airman who appeared in a photo that is being circulated of her posing with her tongue in the mouth of the prisoner of war depicted on the iconic black-and-white POW/MIA emblem.

“We do not yet have all the details behind the photo, but it certainly is a concern; it’s a concern any time someone shows disrespect for prisoners of war and those missing in action,” Chief Master Sgt. of the Air Force James Cody said in a statement. “They deserve our utmost respect and we must always remember their sacrifice and the legacy they’ve left for us as men and women serving our nation.

“I want to make it clear that this is not a reflection of Airmen who wear this uniform; it is a case of poor judgment of one Airman … to say we are disappointed would be an understatement. We are gathering all the details and will take appropriate action at the appropriate level,” he said. “Our Airmen fully understand the significance of the POW/MIA flag and the sacrifice of the men and women it honors.”
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Seat Saved At Soldier's Field for Missing in Action

Empty seat at Soldier Field dedicated to POWs, MIAs
Chicago Tribune
Brianna Gurciullo
January 28, 2016

The open seat, which is fenced off between an American flag and POW/MIA flag, honors prisoners of war and service members declared missing in action.

Rolling Thunder, Illinois Chapter One, members Kandice Jacobs, from left

Gary Bills and Dina Derman look at a chair dedicated to prisoners of war

and missing in action military personnel after a ceremony at Soldier Field

on Jan. 28, 2016. (Erin Hooley / Chicago Tribune)

Rolling Thunder members, donning leather jackets with biker patches, hats and sunglasses, filed by a lone chair, plaque and set of flags Thursday afternoon at Soldier Field.

Some stopped and saluted. A man and woman stood arm in arm and looked at the arrangement.

"America the Beautiful" played over speakers. Later, snow flurries began to fall as several members posed for a photo together.

More than 83,000 military personnel remain missing from conflicts as long ago as World War II, according to the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency.
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Fallen Soldier’s Father Dies Days After Son’s Burial

Gatesville: Fallen Soldier’s Father Dies Days After Son’s Burial
KWTX News
Our Town Texas
Paul J. Gately
January 1, 2016

GATESVILLE (January 1, 2016) The father of a soldier who died during the Vietnam War and who was repatriated just last month has died five days after his son was buried at the Texas State Veteran’s cemetery in Killeen.

Billy Hugh Hill, 91, father of U.S. Army Sgt. 1st Class Billy David Hill, died December 22 in Gatesville, just five days after the soldier’s remains were repatriated.

The younger Hill died in Vietnam in 1968 near Khe Sanh when his helicopter was shot down.

His December 17 funeral was attended by veterans from across the nation, including a dozen or so Vietnam veterans who served with him.

Billy Hugh Hill, a former truck driver, was too ill to attend his son’s funeral but was able to watch parts of the ceremony on News 10, his daughter said.

The elder Hill did meet with some of his son’s Vietnam buddies after the funeral.

His health had declined in the three weeks leading up to the funeral.
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Over 1,200 Attend Funeral for Vietnam Fallen Billy David Hill

More than 1,200 attend funeral for Vietnam veteran Billy David Hill
Killeen Daily Herald
Jacob Brooks Herald staff writer
December 17, 2015

Clay Thorp
Army soldiers fold the American flag and prepare to present it to the family of Sgt. 1st Class Billy David Hill on Thursday, Dec. 17, 2015, at the Central Texas State Veterans Cemetery in Killeen.

More than 1,200 people, many of them Vietnam veterans, attended a military funeral service Thursday in Killeen for Sgt. 1st Class Billy David Hill, a platoon sergeant killed in Vietnam when his helicopter was shot down by enemy gunfire nearly 48 years ago.

The emotions were “overwhelming,” said Gatesville resident Beverly Jacobs, Hill’s cousin.

For decades, the family had wondered what happened to Hill, who disappeared after the helicopter he was on crashed near Khe Sahn in central Vietnam.

About a dozen veterans who served with Hill in Vietnam journeyed from around the nation to attend the funeral.
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Navy Vietnam Veteran Still Serving His Country

Vietnam Navy vet Joe Hill still serving his country
KPLC News
By John Bridges
Posted: Nov 27, 2015

LAKE CHARLES, LA (KPLC) - A Vietnam veteran of the Navy, Joe Hill continued his military career helping other veterans. After graduating OCS, Joe Hill went on to the Navy JAG school to become a Navy legal officer. He later found himself doing 2 tours of duty in Vietnam on board the U.S.S. Pyro.

"We had people ashore and at that time it was top secret," said Hill. "The second one was a shooting war. Our job was to keep the combatants: the destroyers, the cruisers, the aircraft carriers... full of bullets."

After the war, Hill got involved in Navy intelligence.

"I felt very privileged for Operation Homecoming in which we interviewed all of the prisoners of war from the Vietnam War and heard their stories and helped shoe spoon them back into a country that they didn't even recognize."
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KPLC 7 News, Lake Charles, Louisiana

Troops in Afghanistan Remember POW and MIA

Service members in Afghanistan honor National POW/MIA Recognition Day
DVIDS 455th Air Expeditionary Wing
Story by Tech. Sgt. Joseph Swafford
September 17, 2015

Currently there are more than 83,000 Americans still missing from past conflicts. The Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency works to provide the fullest possible accounting for missing personnel to their families and the nation.

U.S. Air Force Brig. Gen. Dave Julazadeh, 455th Air Expeditionary Wing commander, gives a speech during the Prisoners Of War, Missing In Action Remembrance and Retreat Ceremony at Bagram Air Field, Afghanistan, Sept. 17, 2015. The ceremony was in honor of National POW/MIA Remembrance Day, which is observed annually in the United States on the third Friday of September.
(U.S. Air Force photo by Tech. Sgt. Joseph Swafford/Released)

The third Friday of every September is observed as National prisoners of war/missing in action Recognition Day. Service members stationed here observed this day and honored POWs/MIAs with a remembrance and retreat ceremony today and a 24-hour run earlier in the month.

The events allowed Service members and civilians time to pause and remember the sacrifices and service of those who were POWs, as well as those who are MIA, and their families.

“We gather as a reminder of our responsibility to stand behind those who served our nation,” said U.S. Air Force Brig. Gen. Dave Julazadeh, 455th Air Expeditionary Wing commander. “Because of their valor and selfless devotion to the protection of the country they love, our nation owes these great Americans a debt we can never fully repay.”

“Every person who has worn the uniform or fought in battle understands the nature of sacrifice,” said Julazadeh. “And as long as Americans are willing to fight for freedom, our destiny will involve sacrifice; sacrifice by those who serve and sacrifice by their loved ones.”
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POW/MIA Flag Labeled "Racist" Infurating

This is the real story of the POW-MIA Flag some jerk called "racist"

The Story of the POW/MIA Flag
History.net
Marc Leepson

You see it everywhere—the stark, black-and-white POW/MIA flag—flying in front of VA hospitals, post offices and other federal, state and local government buildings, businesses and homes. It flaps on motorcycles, cars and pickup trucks. The flag has become an icon of American culture, a representation of the nation’s concern for military service personnel missing and unaccounted for in overseas wars.

From the Revolution to the Korean War, thousands of U.S. soldiers, Marines, airmen and sailors have been taken prisoner or gone missing. But it took the Vietnam War—and a sense of abandonment felt by wives and family members of Americans held captive—to bring forth what has evolved into the nation’s POW/MIA symbol.

Heisley modeled the flag’s silhouette on his 24-year-old son, who was on leave from the Marines and looking gaunt while getting over hepatitis. Heisley also penned the words that are stitched on the banner, “You are not forgotten.”

As Heisley told the Colorado Springs Gazette in 1997, the flag “was intended for a small group. No one realized it was going to get national attention.”

There are what politicians use for their own power and to repay financial backers but there are other things veterans and families do for each other. The question is, why did News Week cover this?

It’s Time to Haul Down Another Flag of Racist Hate
News Week
BY RICK PERLSTEIN
8/11/15

Rick Perlstein is the national correspondent of The Washington Spectator, on whose site this article first appeared.

You know that racist flag? The one that supposedly honors history but actually spreads a pernicious myth? And is useful only to venal right-wing politicians who wish to exploit hatred by calling it heritage? It’s past time to pull it down.

Oh, wait. You thought I was referring to the Confederate flag. Actually, I’m talking about the POW/MIA flag.

The flag was the creation of the National League of Families of Prisoners of War, later the National League of Families of American Prisoners and Missing in Southeast Asia, a fascinating part of the story in itself.
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