The POW/MIA Flag:
Symbol of Unity or Division?
5 Feb 1999
Though well-intentioned, it is my sincere belief the passage of Public Law
105-85 (18Nov97 sec 1082/note 36 USC 189a, which made it a requirement for
the unofficial POW/MIA Flag be flown on all Federal buildings during six specified
days each year) was a tragic error and should be repealed as soon as possible.
In that regard, it is my belief that we as a nation should move to reverse what
I can only view as an inappropriate and misguided law.
The crux of the problem is that the POW/MIA flag honors a very narrow
segment of the veteran population and does that to the exclusion of much
larger and equally deserving (if not more deserving) segments of that same
population.
While those who engineered its passage may have been sincere in their beliefs
and support of the POW/MIA issue, Public Law 105-85 itself was in my judgment
extremely ill-considered, and its results actually an affront to many in the
veteran community and their families.
I was an Associate member of the California Vietnam Veterans Memorial
Committee between 1984 and 1989. During that period, the commission fended
off a number of vigorous (I would also say zealous) attempts to include the POW
Flag on our memorial. A few months ago, I was shocked to discovered that the
California Department of Veterans had issued a request to have the POW/MIA
flag added to the California Vietnam Veterans Memorial despite the original
Commission's objections already of record.
I wrote the following note to the CDVA representative who made the request
and that note (see below) contains the essence of our rationale in opposing the
display of the POW Flag in the first place. We hope you share our position in the
matter and are willing to act to reverse that legislation simply because it would
be the right thing to do.
In any case, I'm hopeful that the majority of American Veterans will join us in
an effort to reverse the law, especially once exposed to reasoned debate on its
merits. Some of those reasons are contained in the message I wrote to the
CDVA representative and I certain there are more overlooked in my haste to
prepare this note:
Subject: CA VN Vets Memorial & POW Flag
Date: Thu, 04 Feb 1999 15:56:55 -0800
"Dear Sir,
I understand a request was made by you that the POW/MIA flag be flown on
the flagpole of the California Vietnam Veterans Memorial. There are some
things about that issue you should consider before pushing that request further
up the line.
On numerous occasions [between 1984-1991, and even after disbanded], the
California Vietnam Veterans Memorial Commission was asked to include the
POW/MIA flag on our memorial and in every instance the request were denied
unanimously. The Commission members were adamant that the POW Flag
NOT be flown there, and I am in complete agreement with that position.
The strongest opponent of all was from the legendary B. T. Collins, himself.
While at first blush that might not seem the politically correct or honorable
position to take, I'll try to explain our position in a way that might help you and
other Veterans appreciate it.
For one thing, there is already a "POW/MIA flag" flying on our memorial. It's
called the Stars and Stripes.... The American Flag. Our National Flag represents
the sacrifice and suffering of ALL Veterans and their families, not just a narrow
spectrum of the veteran population as the POW flag does, and its universality
in that respect makes it the only appropriate symbol to fly on that flagpole.
That I think was my biggest concern.
The POW/MIA flag is a powerful and emotionally-charged (even
politically-charged) symbol that focuses attention upon (and by its very nature,
affords unique honor and status to) a very small percentage of the veteran
population. That is neither fair nor desirable where a memorial purports to
honor the sacrifice and contributions of the whole not those of particular
segment of the whole.
Our concerns ran (and still run) deeper than that as well. I/We did not then and
still do not believe that anyone can demonstrate that the POWs/MIAs (or their
families) have suffered more or sacrificed more than any other of a very large
cross-section of the veteran population here in California, or the US as a whole
for that matter.
Arguments that some of our comrades might still be held in bamboo cages, or
that their families have suffered more than the families of other Veterans simply
do not hold up to close inspection in the light of day.
In fact, I/we do not believe the POW/MIA is more deserving of a separate flag
honoring their sacrifice than many other classes of Veterans in this country,
and that it can actually be demonstrated that there are several and much
larger groups of our Veterans who are certainly at least as deserving, if not
more deserving, of a special flag than their POW/MIA counterparts!
Whether or not you agree with me/us, consider these approximate statistics
from the Vietnam war ALONE (I do not have them for other wars or I would
quote them instead):
MIA's - 2,250
KIA - 58,000
WIA - 303,000
Severely disabled - 75,000
100% disabled 23,214
Lost limbs - 5,283
Multiple amputations - 1,081
In the light of the above realities, I must ask those who want the POW/MIA flag
to fly at our memorial (and over our nation's public buildings six days each year)
these few questions:
Just what exactly is it about those 2,250 MIA/POWs (or the suffering of their
families) that sets them apart from or above all the other Veterans (and their
families) reflected in the above numbers?
What makes the POW/MIA deserving of their own special flag and a Federal
law requiring it be flown over all federal buildings on six special days each year,
while these others remain effectively ignored and unrecognized?
Where is the flag for the other tens of thousands of Veterans who've been
"imprisoned" here at home by the wars of their own generations, such as those
permanently hospitalized since returning from their war (30 years in the case of
some Vietnam vets, and as many as 50 and more years in the case of our
Korean and WWII vets!); those made quadriplegic or paraplegic; those who
were blinded; those suffering multiple amputations (including three an four
limbs!); the mentally destroyed; the maimed and disfigured.
Has their sacrifice been less? Has the suffering and sacrifice of their families
been less?
And what of our war dead? Was their sacrifice less, or did they suffer less in
their dying? Have the families of our comrades who died in combat suffered
less than the families of our POWs and MIAs?
Experience has shown me they have not.
Case in point: The best friend of my high school years, Lawrence Lee Keister,
was killed in action while serving with the 3rd Battalion, 506th Infantry,
26Jan69. With him died the spirit of his of his family. Neither his mother nor
his father ever recovered. To their own dying day they hoped and prayed it
had all been some huge mistake, that the mangled body in that coffin was not
really their Larry, and that some day he would come walking through their door.
They certainly suffered as much as any POW Family may have suffered and I
can vouch for that suffering personally.
And, speaking of the dead, just exactly where is the flag honoring them?
And where are the other five special days of the year our millions of battle-dead
are recognized and honored each year? After all, we only honor our battle-dead
with just ONE day of remembrance each year (Memorial Day), not six as in the
case of the POW/MIA Flag.
I think you get the point, or at least I hope you do.
Those in the POW/MIA "movement" may view my position as unpatriotic, or at
best completely insensitive, to the plight of the POW/MIAs and their families, yet
nothing could be further from the truth.
I believe ALL our Veterans and their families should be honored by the flying of
a flag, not just a select group of veterans.
I believe the POW/MIA is no more deserving, nor less deserving, of such an
honor.
We believe our obligation is to the whole, not to its pieces.
Millions of Americans gave their lives or parts of their lives and bodies to defend
and protect the Stars and Stripes and the abstract notion of "Freedom" our
nation's Flag represents.
They did not give their lives or spill their blood and sweat on the distant shores
of this planet to defend and protect a POW/MIA Flag; they did not raise the
POW/MIA Flag in the Ardennes Forest nor on Iwo Jima, nor Pork Chop Hill, nor
Hill 875 near Dak To.
No, what they unfurled on a branch or stick or pole or antenna was the Stars
and Stripes - The American Flag.
That is why I believe that the US Flag is the only flag that should be flown on
any publicly-owned property at California's memorial (or on any memorial apart
from a POW memorial, for that matter), for more than a single day each year
set aside to honor this specific subset of the veteran population.
As you can see, the POW Flag is not the object of universal support and
reverence in the veteran's community that many think it is, and there are many
of us who feel strongly it should not be displayed on any public buildings, much
less the California Vietnam Veterans Memorial."
Sincerely,
Michael Kelley
Sacramento, California
Associate Member, CVVMC, 1984-91
Company D, 1st Bn, 502d Inf Rgt, 101st Abn Div, RVN 69/70
WIA 16Sep70, and Retired for Physical Disability"