CMU to hold raising of the POW/MIA flag
An annual flag raising ceremony commemorating Prisoners of War/Missing in Action Recognition day is being held on Friday, Sept. 15 at noon. The event is held by Central Michigan University’s chapter of the Reserve Officers’ Training Corps (ROTC), in conjunction with the Veterans Resource Center and the Department of Philosophy, Anthropology and Religion.
The day was designated in the wake of the Vietnam war, to commemorate the soldiers who went missing or were otherwise unaccounted for during all of America’s wars. But Professor Hope May, one of the event’s original planners, says it is about more than that.
“It is also a day to remember the families,” she says, “especially the wives of the pilots who were shot down and went missing in North Vietnam, who agitated and lobbied the U.S. government to comply with international law, especially the third Geneva Convention, which concerns Prisoners of War.
"That's where the flag comes from - those wives and that movement. This is an important part of Vietnam War history that goes untold.”
Friday’s flag raising is part of the ongoing “Duty to Remember” project, which seeks to educate audiences about the Vietnam and Korean Wars by focusing on the stories of wives and mothers of missing active duty service members.
These families were left without closure as the status of their husbands and sons remained unknown, so they pushed to hold the government accountable by organizing non-violently and pressuring their states to comply with the Geneva Convention’s laws on such matters.
The event's organizers said the event will be held at the flags by the CMU seal outside of Warriner Hall, and is expected to last about 15 minutes, with an informational table and brochures on the day’s history inside the hall afterwards. All are welcome, and students can find more information about both this event and the project it pertains to by going to dutytoremember.com.
