After nearly a year’s absence, the POW/MIA flag is back atop the White House.
Sen. Maggie Hassan, D-N.H., announced the return of the black and white flag to “its rightful place” on Friday, which is National Former Prisoner of War Recognition Day.
In a statement, Hassan, a member of the Senate Committee on Veterans’ Affairs, thanked President Joe Biden for restoring the flag to its previous location.
“It is a powerful way to continually remember and pay tribute to the tremendous sacrifice of prisoners of war and missing service members,” she said. “I am thinking of their families and loved ones today and always as we honor their brave service to keep our country safe, secure, and free.”
A 2019 law requires that the flag, which honors American service members held prisoner or missing in action, be flown in designated locations, including the U.S. Capitol, the White House and national cemeteries.
Last May, the POW/MIA flag was moved from atop the White House and placed in a new memorial garden on the White House grounds. The move, which was revealed when the Trump administration posted a 21-second YouTube video on June 18, prompted outrage from some veterans groups.
Earlier this year, Hassan and her Senate colleagues, Sens. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., and Tom Cotton, R-Ark., sent a letter to Biden, asking him to restore the flag “to its place of honor” atop the White House. All three were sponsors of the 2019 law.
In a news release, Hassan singled out New Hampshire veteran Bob Jones for his “tireless advocacy” in returning the flag to the White House.
Jones got the word in a call Thursday night from Hassan’s office. “I didn’t sleep all night thinking about it,” he said. “I was so happy.”
“This is really a big deal for all the veterans who care about this issue,” Jones said.
Jones is president of the Northeast POW/MIA Network, an organization that for decades has kept the issue of American service members who were taken prisoner or missing in action in the public eye both in New Hampshire and nationally.
The group has held a weekly POW/MIA vigil in Meredith’s Hesky Park for 34 years, and organizes an annual vigil and memorial motorcycle ride at the same location. The ride was canceled last year because of the health crisis, but it returns this year on June 17.
Jones said he reached out to Hassan’s office for help after the flag was removed from atop the White House because when Hassan served as governor, “she was with us at the vigil.”
He admitted he wasn’t very hopeful the flag would be restored to its more prominent location. “And that’s why we’re so happy and so thankful to this senator for her continuing the battle ...,” he said.
At a Friday press briefing, Jen Psaki, White House press secretary,
credited Hassan and the other two senators for their “true display of bipartisanship” in bringing the request to Biden’s attention.
“In keeping with the president and the first lady’s commitment to honor the sacrifices of all those who serve, including veterans, their families, caregivers and survivors, the president and first lady have restored the POW-MIA flag to its original location on top of the White House residence,” Psaki said.
On Friday, Biden issued a proclamation for National Former Prisoner of War Recognition Day, “to honor all who have borne the hardships of captivity in service to our Nation, remember the brave men and women who were held as prisoners in foreign lands during our Nation’s past conflicts, and recognize those at home who anxiously awaited their loved ones’ return.”
