National POW/MIA Recognition Day was established in 1979 through a proclamation signed by President Jimmy Carter after Congress passed a resolution designating the third Friday in September as a special day of remembrance. The actions responded to the push for full accountability on the part of the families of more than 2,500 Vietnam War POW/MIAs at the time.

The National League of Families’ POW/MIA flag symbolizes the U.S. resolve to never forget Prisoners of War or those who served their country in conflicts and who are still missing. Flag designer Newt Heisley drew a silhouette of a young man based on his son who was medically discharged from the military. As he looked at his son’s gaunt features, he imagined what life was like for those behind barbed wire fences on foreign soil and sketched the profile of his son as the new design was created in his mind.

In addition to a ceremony held earlier today at the Pentagon, observances of National POW/MIA Recognition Day were held across the country on military installations, war memorials, museums, ships at sea, state capitols, schools, and VA facilities.

The Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency indicates that more than 81,500 Americans remain missing from World War II, the Korean War, the Vietnam War, the Cold War, the Gulf War, and other conflicts.

BVA has recently learned that one Association member, 94-years old Cecil Phipps, spent 33 months in a North Korean POW camp from 1951-54 after being captured by Communist Chinese communist soldiers. The prisoners were provided just two bowls of millet per day and Cecil’s weight plummeted from 195 pounds to 75 pounds. Additional details of his powerful story will be shared with BVA audiences in the near future. 

Since President Carter’s original proclamation, each subsequent U.S. President has issued an annual proclamation commemorating the third Friday in September as National POW/MIA Recognition Day. Read this year’s White House proclamation.