Tell Their Stories, on National Former Prisoner of War Recognition Day, 2023

The Prisoner of War/Missing in Action (POW/MIA) flag was first conceived in 1971 and soon adopted as a national flag to remind Americans of the prisoners and missing of the Vietnam War. In 1982, it became the only flag other than the Stars and Stripes to fly over the White House in Washington, D.C. On August 10, 1990, Congress passed U.S. Public Law 101-355, designating the POW/MIA flag as “The symbol of our Nation’s concern and commitment to resolving as fully as possible the fates of Americans still prisoner, missing and unaccounted for in Southeast Asia.” For many years the flag was flown on six national observances (Armed Forces Day, Memorial Day, Flag Day, Independence Day, National POW/MIA Recognition Day, and Veterans Day). With the National POW/MIA Flag Act of 2019 signed into law by President Trump, it is generally flown, concurrently, immediately below or adjacent to the United States flag as second in order of precedence displayed concurrently every day at federal locations already designated under existing law. (U.S. Postal Service photo)