by Dan Perkins

Sources: Army News Service, DoD Advisory, AFIS News Articles 

At the direction of Congress, on Friday, September 15, 2006, a black and white flag will fly over the White House, just below the stars and stripes.  It is the only flag, other than the Old Glory, to ever fly above the White House.  The distinct black and white flag is the POW/MIA flag, which is the acronym for Prison of War/Missing in Action.  The POW/MIA flag is the official symbol of America's resolve not to forget about the Americans who are held as prisoners of war or missing in action. 

The military has four organizations committed to accounting for approximately 88,000 U.S. servicemembers missing from the nation's wars. They include about 78,000 missing from World War II, more than 8,100 from the Korean War, 1,801 from the Vietnam War and about 125 from the Cold War.

Teams of military and civilian experts are steadily excavating sites in Europe, South Korea, Solomon Islands, Alaska and Hawaii, searching for remains to help identify servicemembers still listed as missing in action.

Army Reserve Sgt. Keith "Matt" Maupin is the only U.S. servicemember missing in Operation Iraqi Freedom. Insurgents captured Maupin on April 9, 2004, after his fuel convoy came under attack at Baghdad International Airport.  ARNews reports, "In the ensuing action, the 43 soldiers in the convoy killed or wounded some 200 insurgents. Two of their fellow soldiers, Sgt. Elmer C. Krause and Spc. Gregory Goodrich, were killed, as were six civilians. One civilian contract employee, Thomas Hamill, was captured but escaped 24 days later.  One soldier, then-Spc. Maupin, was captured. He remains a captive to this day."

Observances of National POW/MIA Recognition Day are deeply personal affairs for families with missing loved ones.  They are held nationwide on military installations, ships at sea, state capitols, schools and veterans' facilities.

The POW/MIA flag, with its simple, but dramatic black and white imagery, has a rather fascinating history.

In 1971, during the height of the Vietnam War, Mrs. Michael Hoff, an MIA wife and member of the National League of Families, recognized the need for a symbol to remind the nation of service members held in enemy prisons and missing in action. 

According to the National League of Families website, Hoff read an article in the Jacksonville, Florida Times-Union that prompted her to contact Norman Rivkees, vice  president of Annin & Company, a business that provided flags to all United Nations member states.  At the time, Annin & Company had recently made a banner for the newest member of the United Nations, the People’s Republic of China.  Rivkees was reportedly sympathetic to Hoff’s views regarding a symbol for POWs and MIAs.  The National League of Families website states the Rivkees and Annin’s advertising agency, designed a flag to represent missing American personnel, and after the League’s approval of the design, the flags were manufactured for distribution.

Another website, www.homeofheroes.com, provides a more colorful account of the genesis of the POW/MIA flag.  The site indicates that Rivkees quickly adopted the idea, and turned to one of (Annin & Company’s) advertising agencies for help with the design.

The unnamed agency employed a gentleman named Newt Heisley, a veteran and pilot during World War II who came to New York City looking for work following the war.  “It took me four days to find a bad job at low pay,” said Heisley, according to the Homeofheroes.com website.  By 1971, Heisley had succeeded in finding work at an agency with national accounts.

Without disclosing his position within the agency, the site reports that Heisley made designing a flag for missing service members a personal challenge.  At the time, his oldest son, Jeffery Heisley, was training with the United States Marines at Quantico, Virginia.  Although Heisley could not foresee it at the time, his son reportedly had a major role in the design of the flag.

According to the account provided by homeofheroes.com, Jeffery Heisley became very ill while in training; and was diagnosed with hepatitis.  The disease ravaged his body and emaciated his face.  When he returned home, his father reportedly looked at his son with horror. As Newt Heisley processed his son’s new appearance, he began to image how time and stress had affected service members imprisoned or missing on enemy soil. 

Heisley began sketching his son’s profile, working with a pencil on a white sheet of paper.  He created a black silhouette against a white background.  That silhouette became the most prominent element of the new flag.  Barbed wire and a tower were added to a circle of white that framed the silhouette.  Some believe the circle of white reflects a prison spotlight.  Heisley added the letters P-O-W, a star, and M-I-A at the top of the circle, and the words, “You are not forgotten,” at the bottom.

Heisley’s black and white pencil sketch was one of several designed reportedly considered for the new POW/MIA flag.  Although it was dramatic, it was not what Heisley envisioned as the finished product.  According to homeofheroes.com, Heisley planned to add color at a later date, but before he could submit a more colorful version, the black and white rendering was accepted as the winning design.  Annin & Company moved swiftly to have a quantity of black and white flags prepared for distribution.

Homeofheroes.com also reports that the MIA/POW flag was never copyrighted, so it belongs to everyone.

The haunting black silhouette, which was originally designed to represent every husband, father or son captured, missing, or unaccounted for, now has to serve as symbol for a more diverse group.  Today's military requires the silhouette to represent both men and women, husbands and wives, fathers and mothers, sons and daughters - literally all who have served and are imprisoned or whose whereabouts are unknown.

Lest we forget, Congress has mandated that the POW/MIA flag be flown on five other occasions during the calendar year in addition to POW/MIA Recognition Day.  The other occasions are Armed Forces Day (3rd Saturday in May), Memorial Day (Last Monday in May), Flag Day (June 14th), Independence Day (July 4th) and Veterans Day (November 11th).

Although some civilian households fly the flag as prescribed by Congress, especially families of service personnel, the POW/MIA flag is officially flown at major military installations, national cemeteries, all post offices, VA medical facilities, the Korean War Veterans Memorial, the Vietnam Veterans Memorial, the official offices of the secretaries of state, defense and veterans affairs, the director of the selective service system and the White House.

The purpose of POW/MIA Recognition Day was perhaps best stated by Col. Randy Pullen, who wrote in a ARNEWS article, "On POW/MIA Recognition Day, we remember the courage of our fellow Soldiers and servicemen and women as they endured captivity. We also remember the equal courage of their family members as they also endured their loved one’s captivity or the agonies of not knowing their fate. We remember and we hope for a conclusion to those trials."

The End

Related Story:

Discover the intriguing stories of Alexander Jefferson, a Tuskegee Airman who was imprisoned in a German POW camp after his plane was shot down, and Captain Tony Marshall who was imprisoned by the Viet Cong. Click graphic for story.