You are not forgotten

YOU ARE NOT FORGOTTEN.

That’s the central phrase behind the POW/MIA remembrance movement that
honors America’s prisoners of war, those who are still missing in action and their families.

Many of our service members suffered as prisoners of war during several decades of varying conflicts. While some of them made it home, tens of thousands more never did.
POW/MIA Recognition Day is commemorated on the third Friday of every September, a date that’s not associated with any particular war. In 1979, Congress and the president passed resolutions making it official after the families of the more than 2,500 Vietnam War POW/MIAs pushed for full accountability.

During the first POW/MIA Recognition Day commemoration, a ceremony was held at the National Cathedral in Washington, D.C., while the 1st Tactical Squadron from Langley Air Force Base in Virginia flew the missing man formation. Most ceremonies since then have been held at the Pentagon, and many smaller observances have cropped up across the nation and around the world on military installations.

The traditional POW/MIA flag that’s well-known across America was actually created years before the remembrance day became official.

In 1971, Mary Hoff contacted a flag company near her home to see whether a flag reminding people of POWs and the missing could be made. She was one of the many waiting to see whether her husband, Navy Lt. Cmdr. Michael Hoff, would ever return home after his plane had been shot down over Laos. World War II pilot Newt Heisley designed the now-famous flag, which was made in black and white to represent the sorrow, anxiety and hope symbolized by the image of the gaunt man featured on it.

For every POW/MIA Recognition Day since 1982, the flag has flown just below the stars and stripes at the White House – the only other flag to ever do so. In 1998, Congress ordered it to also be displayed on Armed Forces Day, Memorial Day, Flag Day, Independence Day and Veterans Day