National POW/MIA Recognition Day is by law, the 3rd Friday in September every year. This date honors those men and women still held in enemy hands or buried on foreign soil.
On August 10, 1990, the Congress passed a bill recognizing the black and white, POW/MIA flag as “the symbol of our Nation’s concern and commitment to resolving as fully as possible the fate of Americans still prisoner, missing and unaccounted for in Southeast Asia…”
In 1997, bills passed the House and Senate mandating the POW/MIA flag be flown on specific holidays.
The 1998 Defense Authorization act noted that the flag MUST be flown on: Memorial Day, Armed Forces Day, Flag Day, Veterans Day, Independence Day, POW/MIA Recognition Day.In 1998, the Veterans Administration noted the flag will fly EVERY day at their facilities.
A Pentagon ceremony for National POW/MIA Recognition Day will be held on Friday, Sept. 21, 2007. This ceremony will feature troops from each of the military services. The president will issue a proclamation commemorating the observances and reminding the nation of those Americans who have sacrificed so much for their country.
Observances of National POW/MIA Recognition Day are held across the country on military installations, ships at sea, state capitols, schools and veterans’ facilities.
POW Prayer
Please hear me ,Lord…..
It’s the dead of night…..
It is dark and cold,
the night surrounds me Like a blanket of hope.
As long as it is night, they will stay in their corner.
I lie here wondering ~
how long is it again?
I cling to the dream of my family ~
I see them in my mind.
It is another Independence Day at home.
When will my independence come?
I will NOT believe that they have forgotten me!!
I look in the hole I have dug here,
for the things that I hide from them.
A little smile across my lips~
in all this time they have never found my little stash!
I pull out a little scrap of shredded red and white.
For me, it waves in the breeze of home!
It is my salvation ~
it tells me there is hope.
There is a tiny piece of cloth,
a remnant of the uniform worn with the pride
only a soldier knows.
Ah, here is that little corner of the photo I once had!
They think they destroyed it ~
It is my private joke on them.
For I can still see the face of my little boy. But ~~~
he must be almost a man by now…
I am not sure?
How long has it been again?
They could not have forgotten me,
as they go from one day to the next without me.
I will not believe that!
If they have, I shall surely be swallowed
up in the mists of this hell!
How long has it been again?
No ~
they have not forgotten ~
how could they have?
Have they ?
My God?
Have they?
By Joanna Mckenzie Henshaw
If you would like, please visit my POW MIA page at my website.
I have many friends who served in Vietnam. Many that died there, many that died after they came home from Agent Orange. I pray each day for our POW’s and MIA’s that they will be brought home! You are NOT forgotten! As long as I breathe I will be thinking and praying for you. – Wild Thing
Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be terrified. Do not be discouraged, for the Lord your God will be with you wherever you go. – Joshua 1:9
Yes, we must remember and must never forget that we left boys behind to be slaughtered or sent somewhere they should never have had to go.
Whenever I see our pompous politicians spouting anti-American rhetoric, I think of our MIAs and KIAs and the price paid by these best Americans. The freedom bought at great sacrifice should never be abused. Those that paid the price should never be forgotten.
Being old enough to have had the pleasure of the company of WWI veterans and WWII Veterans, one from the Bataan Death March some of who are still mourning the MIA loss of friends and family from WWII, I still feel for those losses.
Everytime I see John McCain I think of the MIA/POW issue, he formerly being one. My own flag flys 24/7 for them, here is why:
Did America Abandon Vietnam War P.O.W.’s? Part 1
Did America Abandon Vietnam War P.O.W.’s? Part 2
Then there are those missing from Korea and most recently those from Afghanistan and Iraq. Imagine being left behind by your own country to moulder unmarked in foreign soil or to survive for a lingering death of no hope.
My favorite motto: They’ve Forgotten Me, God…
It’s through efforts like yours that they are not forgotten, thank you so very much Chrissie.
I looked in the paper this morning to find events for this…nothing. I ended up going to a rememberance ceremony held at the Dallas VA Regional Hospital. Poor attendance…less than poor for the community of millions.
I was embarrassed. The VA is not to blame. The American citizenship, in general, should bow down in shame. I AM pi$$ed.
Thanks for going Steve.
Darth that is a great verse.
Lynn, thank you.
Tom, me too, I always wonder why our politicians never mention this.
Jack those two links are fantastic, Thank you so much.
I agree with you, I cannot imagine the horror of being left behind, and the nightmare that has been delt to those in places where nightmares are made of.
Steve, I agree, it is the public that led this slide not the VA.I am ashamed of how this gets swept under the rug like it does. Steve that is wonderful what you did.
WT brings out the best in US! Patriot Gaston, on 9-11-01 I was in a blue state inner city VA Hospital and when the twin towers finally succumbed to islamo terrorism and collapsed, the wannabe vets that walked the halls could care less what just happened! Ya had to see it to believe it.