Political Quotes

“Mr. President, I wish to honor all of those brave American men and women who have suffered as prisoners of war, are missing in action, or remain unaccounted for with respect to their service to our Nation. Since 1998, we take the third Friday of every September--this year, the 19th--as a day to acknowledge and remember with these extraordinary men and women. Our servicemembers provide the blanket of security that allows us to sleep safely at night. We cannot thank them enough. But what we can do is pledge to all of the soldiers, sailors, airmen, and marines never to forget them and their sacrifice. During the course of the Vietnam war, over 2,500 military personnel were declared either a prisoner of war or missing in action. In 1971, Mary Hoff, the wife of Lt. Cmdr Michael Hoff, a missing-in-action military officer, saw the need for a flag to honor all of those classified as missing in action, MIA, or prisoner of war, POW. Newt Heisley, a World War II pilot, designed the flag. It is a haunting black flag containing a white silhouette of a servicemember. Behind this servicemember is a single barbed wire and a watchtower in the background, and underneath this image are the words ``You are not forgotten.'' Just as those words are written on the flag, so they are in my heart. As moving and poignant as this flag is, it was still not enough. On 1979, Congress and the President declared the first POW/MIA Recognition Day.…”