Sorry to raise this thread (or bring it back from MIA status), but as recently as today, I noticed a POW MIA flag flying directly under an American flag. At the US Post office. In West Lafayette, IN. In January 2022.
So of course I came back here and scanned some older threads about these flags and the whole POW MIA issue and learned a few things, but questions remain.
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It seems to mainly be a “boomer” generation issue, for that generation and their parents, who lost loved ones to the Vietnam war. The missing number in the low thousands (maybe 1.5k to 2k).
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However, apparently there were far more such missing soldiers during WWII. That war was on an entirely grander scale, with (according to this thread) more than 2k missing from home front soldiers alone. But we don’t hear so much from this older cohort because most of them have passed on.
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I hypothesized to my son that as the boomer generation gets older, these POW MIA flags are likely to start disappearing. That is, unless replaced by a whole new generation of MIA’s.
I admit I was surprised that the local post office was flying this flag today. Who exactly does this flag benefit? Vietnam veterans, or anyone remembering someone lost in war? Is there perhaps a “better” way of doing this that doesn’t seem connected to a conspiracy-like theory (e.g. that the Vietnamese are for some reason still holding prisoners)?
Living in WA near various military bases, there were a lot of yellow ribbons, which signified awaiting the return for a loved one who was currently deployed. Then of course, there’s memorial day. Both these seem decent and non conspiratorial. However I feel kind of funny about that flag.