The American Red Cross Southeastern Pennsylvania Region rededicated its POW/MIA Chair of Honor last month after moving it to the lobby of the Spring Garden Campus in Philadelphia. The chair was originally placed and dedicated at the former Humanitarian Services building at 21st and Chestnut streets in 2016.   

POW/MIA stands for Prisoners of War/Missing in Action. It’s a movement that has come to represent the country’s commitment to honoring those who have not returned from war and the ongoing efforts to account for them. More than 80,000 American service personnel are still missing dating back to World War I.

The POW/MIA Chair of Honor program started with Rolling Thunder, Inc. to recognize the more than 1,500 service members who are missing in action from the Vietnam War. The chairs are left empty to symbolize that there is still a place for the soldiers, even though they are not physically present.  

Local Marine Corps veteran Patrick Hughes introduced the program to then-Red Cross Regional CEO Judge Renee Hughes, and a chair was placed on Nov. 10, 2016. It is one of more than 130 that Patrick has helped place. You can find chairs in a variety of locations across the country, including sports venues, colleges and universities, state capitols and even the U.S. Capitol Visitor’s Center.

Having a POW/MIA Chair of Honor placed at the Southeastern Pennsylvania Red Cross headquarters underscores the organization’s longstanding commitment to military personnel and their families, including prisoners of war.

In World War II, the Red Cross sent more than 27 million packages to POWs in Europe, which included food, medical supplies, hygiene items and clothing. Some of those packages were assembled by volunteers right here in Philadelphia!

During the Korean War, the Red Cross helped facilitate prisoner exchanges between the United Nations and North Korean forces. And during the Vietnam War, the Red Cross sent more than 20,000 letters to POWs from their families and participated in the Write Hanoi campaign.

Like Patrick, local Air Force veteran Ralph Galati participated in both the original dedication and rededication of the POW/MIA Chair of Honor at the Red Cross in Philadelphia.

“The Red Cross to me is meaningful because I was a recipient of Red Cross services in 1972,” Ralph shared during his remarks.

In a Red Cross Philly Blog story from 2021, Ralph explained that the Red Cross helped get a message to him about his daughter’s birth while he was stationed in Southeast Asia. A week later, he was shot down over North Vietnam and was captured and held as a prisoner of war for 14 months in a series of Hanoi prison camps.

At the time of Ralph’s capture, the POW/MIA movement in the U.S. was gaining momentum. The POW/MIA flag was created, and a group of students began making and distributing bracelets engraved with the names of POWs.

“In 1971-72, they had this thing called a POW/MIA bracelet where you’d pay $2.50 and you wore the bracelet until they came home,” Ralph explained.

“I was shot down nearing the end of the war – 1972. Some of the POWs had been there since 64, 68,” he said. “When we told them this flag had been created and these bracelets had been created, it was a big morale booster.”

Some of those bracelets came to have Ralph’s name engraved on them.

“I will still, to this day, 52 years later, meet people who say ‘I have your bracelet’ from around the country,” he said.

The POW/MIA Chair of Honor continues those early efforts to bring attention to the soldiers who are still missing. The chair bears the same emblem as the PIO/MIA flag – a white silhouette of a prisoner of war before a guard tower and barbed wire on a black background. “POW/MIA” appears above the silhouette and the words “YOU ARE NOT FORGOTTEN” appear below.

At the Red Cross Spring Garden Campus, the chair is placed in the main lobby. It sits between the American flag and the POW/MIA flag and is roped off to ensure it remains empty. Above the chair hangs a plaque that reads, “You Are Not Forgotten. Since World War I, more than 92,000* U.S. service personnel are unaccounted for. This unoccupied seat is dedicated to the memory of these brave men and women and to the sacrifices each made in serving this country.”

About the POW/MIA movement and flag

The POW/MIA movement loosely started in the late 1960s by families of U.S. military personnel to bring attention to the mistreatment of captured U.S. soldiers in Southeast Asia during the Vietnam War. The movement was formalized with the incorporation of the National League of POW/MIA Families in 1970.

Commissioned by the League in 1971, the POW/MIA flag is the movement’s most recognizable symbol. It was flown over the White House for the first time on National POW/MIA Recognition Day (established as the third Friday in September) in 1982.

In 1990, Congress passed a law designating the POW/MIA flag “as a symbol of our Nation’s concern and commitment to resolving as fully as possible the fates of Americans still prisoner, missing and unaccounted for in Southeast Asia, thus ending the uncertainty for their families and the Nation.”

In 2019, the National POW/MIA Flag Act was signed into law, requiring the POW/MIA flag to be flown on certain federal properties, including the U.S. Capitol Building, on all days the American flag is flown.

The POW/MIA flag and movement have come to represent the nation’s commitment to resolving the fates of Americans who are missing or unaccounted for beyond Vietnam to include all wars.

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- Written by Alana Mauger