by Danny Calhoun
The National League of Families of American Prisoners and Missing in Southeast Asia was incorporated in the District of Columbia on May 28, 1970. Voting membership is comprised of the wives, children, parents, siblings and other close relatives of Americans who were or are listed as prisoners of war, missing in action, killed in action/body not recovered and returned Vietnam War U.S. POWs. Associate membership is comprised of extended family relatives of POW/MIAs who do not meet voting membership requirements, veterans and other concerned citizens.
The League is a nonprofit, tax-exempt 501[c]3 (FEIN #23-7071242), humanitarian organization, financed by contributions from the families, veterans and other concerned Americans. The League’s sole purpose is to obtain the release of all prisoners, the fullest possible accounting for the missing and repatriation of all recoverable remains of those who died serving our nation during the Vietnam War in Southeast Asia.
The League originated on the west coast in the late 1960s. The wife of a ranking POW, believing that the U.S. Government’s policy of keeping a low profile on the POW/MIA issue and encouraging the families to refrain from publicly discussing the problem was unjustified, initiated a loosely organized movement which evolved into the National League of POW/MIA Families. In October 1968, the first POW/MIA story was published. As a result of that publicity, the families began communicating with each other, and the group grew in strength from 50 to 100, to 300, and kept growing. Small POW/MIA family groups flooded the North Vietnamese delegation in Paris with telegraphic inquiries regarding the prisoners and missing, the first major activity in which hundreds of families participated.
Eventually, the necessity for formal incorporation was recognized. In May 1970, a special ADHOC meeting of the families met at Constitution Hall in Washington, D.C., at which time the League’s charter and by-laws were adopted. Elected by the voting membership, now approximately 1,000 family members, a seven-member Board of Directors meets regularly to determine League policy and direction. Regional Coordinators, responsible for activities in multi-state areas, and State Coordinators represent the League in most states.
The League’s national office is now staffed by only one full-time employee, augmented by concerned citizen and family member volunteers and university-level interns. The executive director, an MIA sister and the organization’s chief executive officer, is responsible for management of the League and implementation of policies established by the membership and the Board of Directors.
FOR MORE INFORMATION ABOUT THE LEAGUE OF FAMILIES
http://www.pow-mia
families.org/
Pulaski County has one of the only memorials of it’s kind honoring those listed as Prisoners of War and Missing in Action (POW/MIA). The Prisoner of War —Missing in Action Memorial Garden is located in Somerset adjacent to the Court House. It features a pole which displays only the POW/MIA Flag, 24 hours a day, 365 days a year.
It contains a central memorial stone commemorating all POW/MIAs. There are 4 additional memorial stones, WW 1, WW 2, Korea and Vietnam, commemorating all POWs and the more than 92,000 listed as MIA since WW 1. New memorial stones will be added shortly to commemorate POW/MIAs from the Cold War Era, Desert Storm and the Iraqi War.
There are currently 4 American troops listed as MIA in Iraq.
The Garden was designed, built and is maintained by a Committee of 3 local Vietnam veterans, Chairman Danny Calhoun and Co Chairmen Ernie Bach and Gene Palmer, at no cost to taxpayers. The Garden was funded and built as a labor of love by many local businesses and persons.
Permission to built the Garden and the land it is built on was provided by the then County Judge Executive Judge Beshears.
The Committee also maintains the floral wreaths present year round at the other 4 war memorials at the Court House and provides the POW/MIA Flags you see displayed at the Court House, City Hall and other locations.
The POW/MIA Flag is the only flag to ever fly above the White House and to be displayed daily at the Nation‘s Capitol Rotunda, other than the American Flag.
