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National League of POW/MIA Families

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National League of POW/MIA Families

"When one American is not worth the effort to be found, we as Americans have lost"

09/14/2026

This Friday, September 18th, 2026, is POW/MIA Recognition Day. Around the U.S., many observances will have one table set apart from the rest. It’s small, dignified, and set for someone who isn't there.

It's called the Missing Man Table, and every object on it carries deliberate meaning:
The table itself is small, representing the frailty of one prisoner standing alone against his captors. A white tablecloth speaks to the purity of that person's intentions in answering the call to serve. A single red rose, often tied with a yellow or red ribbon, honors the blood that may have been shed — and the families who still bear witness, demanding their return. A slice of lemon and a scattering of salt on the bread plate mark a bitter fate and the tears of those left waiting. The glass sits inverted, since the missing cannot share in a toast. A Bible represents the faith that sustains those still hoping. The black napkin represents the plain truth that what became of them remains unknown. And an empty chair reserved for the missing.

The POW/MIA flag placed at this table exists as a reminder that more than 1,565 Americans remain unaccounted for from the Vietnam War alone and serves as a number that reflects only one conflict, among several, amilies are still waiting for answers.
Learn more about the Missing Man Table and its history at the link in our bio.

09/10/2026

Eight days from today, on September 18th, is POW/MIA Recognition Day.
We at the League are compiling events from around the country to serve as a repository to boost observance of this solemn day. If you are hosting or know of any public ceremonies happening that are not yet listed, please email them to [email protected] so that we can add them to our interactive map. Check it out on our website: pow-miafamilies.org/recognitionday (link also in our Instagram bio)

In an effort to accommodate all returned POWs and all Americans still missing and unaccounted for from all wars, the League proposed the third Friday in September: a date not associated with any particular war, not tied to any organization's national convention, and a time of year when weather nationwide is generally moderate. The date was adopted and has been observed annually ever since.

09/09/2026

September 9th, 1965 Vice Admiral James Stockdale was taken prisoner. Ahead of his mission, he noticed his A-4 Skyhawk pilots were taking heavier losses on strikes near North Vietnam's An Wa bridge. In a clear display of leadership, he swapped aircraft for the day, leading a flight of A-4s himself "for morale purposes."

His mission over North Vietnam had him flying at a low altitude. Hit repeatedly by anti-aircraft fire, he ejected and wound up parachuting down almost directly into a small village. Before authorities arrived, a group of local residents descended on him. In his own words, it was "the quarterback sack of the century."

That day began seven and a half years of captivity in the Hanoi Hilton and the start of one of the most extraordinary stories of leadership and resistance to come out of the Vietnam War. Throughout his time as a POW, he was the senior officer. His wife, Sybil, and other families of those imprisoned or missing came together to found the National League of POW/MIA Families.
Quotations taken from Adm. Stockdale’s 2001 interview with the Academy of Achievement.

09/05/2026

Today, September 5, is
The National League of POW/MIA Families was founded on similar principles. In 1970, the families of the missing and unaccounted-for, against numerous odds, organized to demand what they believed every family deserved: the fullest possible accounting of what happened to their loved ones. Together, they built the political and diplomatic pressure that made POW/MIA accounting a sustained national priority.

Today, 1,565 Americans from the Vietnam War remain unaccounted for, and their families are still waiting for answers.

There are meaningful ways to give that are not monetary: write to your representative, tell the story of someone still unaccounted for, share POW/MIA bracelets, or tell someone about our continued national mission.

Learn how to help: http://www.pow-miafamilies.org/help

09/02/2026

57 years ago in 1969, two recently released American POWs gave a press conference detailing their treatment in the Hanoi Hilton.

Navy Lt. Robert Frishman and Petty Officer Doug Hegdahl sat down at a Pentagon press conference and described the torture, injuries, and solitary confinement they and their fellow prisoners had endured. Frishman revealed that then-Lt. Cmdr. John McCain was suffering from unset broken bones and had been in solitary confinement for over a year, and that fellow prisoner Lt. Cmdr. Richard Stratton had been beaten and had his fingernails removed. Hegdahl famously remembered 256 American names, ranks, and dates of captures to the tune of “Old MacDonald Had a Farm”.

Public attention created pressure on the North Vietnamese to pursue a strategy of better treatment for these men. Together with the unexpected death of Ho Chi Minh (announced in the U.S. on the same date), treatment began to improve. In his briefing to the Joint Chiefs of Staff in 1973, Returned-POW Col. Lawrence Guarino opined that 70% of that change was due to public pressure, with the remainder being the prisoners’ resistance to being used for further propaganda purposes.

That press conference played a critical role in helping the American public understand what our captured servicemen were enduring.

NeverForget NotForgotten

Sources: Vernon E. Davis, The Long Road Home: U.S. Prisoner of War Policy and Planning in Southeast Asia (Washington DC: Office of the Secretary of Defense, 2000), 206-209; Stuart Rochester and Frederick Kiley, Honor Bound: The History of American Prisoners of War in Southeast Asia, 1961-1973 (Washington DC: Office of the Secretary of Defense, 1998), 489-491.
Picture from NYTimes 1969 original article "Ex-P.O.W.'s Charge Hanoi With Torture" with the photo caption "Lieut. Robert F. Frishman telling of treatment by foe."

08/30/2026

62 years ago, Navy Lt. Charles Klusmann became the first American aviator to escape captivity during the Vietnam War.

On June 6, 1964, Klusmann had been shot down on a reconnaissance mission over the Plain of Jars in Laos and taken prisoner by the Pathet Lao. Over the following weeks, he and a group of fellow Laotian prisoners patiently and quietly worked to loosen the nails on a section of barbed-wire fence.

On the rainy night of August 30th, Klusmann and the others slipped through the gap. Two were recaptured within hours. Only Klusmann and his companion, Boun Mi, made it after surviving a harrowing three-day trek through jungle before reaching friendly forces.

Later, he recounted:

"We learned about two months later that the two men who escaped with us but were recaptured, had both been executed. This brought home to us that the price of freedom is never free."

Klusmann continued to serve in the Navy until his retirement in 1980. He passed away in 2024.

Not every American in Laos came home. Decades after the war, the fate of many remains unresolved. Today, we are remember those who still missing in unaccounted-for, and continue to advocate for the fullest possible accounting.

08/28/2026

Exciting days in - At the Chicago Bears preseason home opener family members of Navy Lt. Cmdr. Thomas Pilkington were honored, more than fifty years after he was decalred over Vietnam in September of 1966 alongside Lt. Cmdr. Donald Parsons Jr.

The next day, the U.S. Army Parachute Team parachute team carried the flag high above the city at the Air and Water show

We commend these honorable acts, and are reminded that our nation's missing and unaccounted for are

📷: Army Sgt. 1st Class Marcus Denniston

08/27/2026

This :

Say "Operation Just Cause" and most people think of Panama in 1989. But it was also the name of a grassroots POW/MIA advocacy project from the late 1990's.

Individual volunteers each "adopted" a missing American and committed to pressing governments, at home and abroad, for answers. Written letters to elected officials. Calls for investigation of live sightings. Demands for repatriation of those still unaccounted for.

This is one of many small civilian-led campaigns that grew from the broader POW/MIA awareness movement, and a reminder that this mission requires motivated advocates to keep it moving.
The Operation Just Cause website from the late 1990s exists in an archived link below. Worth visiting for the history - and for some genuinely classic late-90s web design.

https://tinyurl.com/d5baze4s

07/30/2026

Today we recognize and the incredible young professionals who have brought their skills and dedication to us this year!

Whether working on international policy, veterans affairs, or anything inbetween - and especially during our Annual Meeting crunch time - we express our gratitude for these young professionals and their dedication to the accounting mission!

Today, all donations recieved will go directly towards our League Leadership Program - an investment in the of advocates, researchers, and publicservants who will ensure our missing and unaccounted for are .

Please consider donating via the link below, and consider thanking an intern today! https://www.pow-miafamilies.org/internday26

07/18/2026

47 years ago in was the first nationally proclaimed POW/MIA Recognition Day: honoring American prisoners of war, those missing in action, and the families of those who refused to rest until their loved ones be forgotten.

For several years, the proclamations took place around late July, until 1986 when it was moved to the third Friday in September.

Today, the National League of POW/MIA Families honors these early awareness efforts, and continues to advocate for the many missing and unaccounted for, and their families.

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