National League of Families - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

The National League of Families of American Prisoners and Missing in Southeast Asia is an American

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

Non-profit organization

Nonprofit organization is neither a legal nor technical definition but generally refers to an organization that uses surplus revenues to achieve its goals, rather than distributing them as profit or dividends...

that is concerned with the Vietnam War POW/MIA issue

Vietnam War POW/MIA issue

The Vietnam War POW/MIA issue concerns the fate of United States servicemen who were reported as missing in action during the Vietnam War and associated theaters of operation in Southeast Asia...

. According the group's web site, its sole purpose is "to obtain the release of all prisoners, the fullest possible accounting for the missing and repatriation of all recoverable remains of those who died serving our nation during the Vietnam War

Vietnam War

The Vietnam War was a Cold War-era military conflict that occurred in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia from 1 November 1955 to the fall of Saigon on 30 April 1975. This war followed the First Indochina War and was fought between North Vietnam, supported by its communist allies, and the government of...

in Southeast Asia." The League's most prominent symbol is its famous POW/MIA flag

POW/MIA flag

The POW/MIA flag is an American flag designed as a symbol of citizen concern about United States military personnel taken as prisoners of war or listed as missing in action ....

Founding

The League's origins date to groups created by Sybil Stockdale

Sybil Stockdale

Sybil Stockdale was the wife of an American Vietnam War Navy pilot who became a prisoner of war. Sybil then became a co-founder, and then later served as the national coordinator of the National League of Families, a nonprofit organization that worked on behalf of American Vietnam-era Missing in...

and a group of POW/MIA wives in Coronado, California

Coronado, California

Coronado, also known as Coronado Island, is an affluent resort city located in San Diego County, California, 5.2 miles from downtown San Diego. Its population was 24,697 at the 2010 census, up from 24,100 at the 2000 census. U.S. News and World Report lists Coronado as one of the most expensive...

, as well as POW/MIA wives in the Hampton, Virginia

Hampton, Virginia

Hampton is an independent city that is not part of any county in Southeast Virginia. Its population is 137,436. As one of the seven major cities that compose the Hampton Roads metropolitan area, it is on the southeastern end of the Virginia Peninsula. Located on the Hampton Roads Beltway, it hosts...

, area led by Evelyn Grubb

Evelyn Grubb

Evelyn Grubb was the wife of an American Vietnam War Air Force pilot who became a prisoner of war, she was also a co-founder and then later served as the national coordinator of the National League of Families, a nonprofit organization that worked on behalf of Vietnam-era Missing in Action and...

and Mary Crowe, in 1967. Sybil Stockdale's husband, Navy Commander James Stockdale

James Stockdale

Vice Admiral James Bond Stockdale was one of the most highly decorated officers in the history of the United States Navy.Stockdale led aerial attacks from the carrier during the 1964 Gulf of Tonkin Incident...

, was shot down in 1965 and she was determined to make the American people aware of the mistreatment of U.S. POWs. Grubb and Crowe were frustrated with the lack of information from federal officials. It was these groups that finally convinced the U.S. government to change their official stance on the POW/MIA issue in 1969. Eventually, the League was incorporated in Washington, D.C.

Washington, D.C.

Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly referred to as Washington, "the District", or simply D.C., is the capital of the United States. On July 16, 1790, the United States Congress approved the creation of a permanent national capital as permitted by the U.S. Constitution....

, on May 28, 1970.

Another notable member of the league during the war was Joe McCain

Joe McCain

Joseph Pinckney "Joe" McCain II is a stage actor, newspaper reporter, and brother of U.S. Senator and two-time presidential candidate John McCain.-Early life and education:...

, brother of imprisoned U.S. Navy pilot and future U.S. Senator and presidential candidate John McCain

John McCain

John Sidney McCain III is the senior United States Senator from Arizona. He was the Republican nominee for president in the 2008 United States election....

Increased national attention after 1972 Life magazine article

The league gained increased international attention in 1972 when Life Magazine ran a feature article on the organization. The article started with a full page photograph of Major Wilmer Newlin Grubb of the United States Air Force, the husband of National League of Families President Evelyn Grubb, from after he had been shot down in 1966 and taken prisoner by the North Vietnamese Army. Evelyn Grubb by then was also serving as the League's representative to the White House

White House

The White House is the official residence and principal workplace of the president of the United States. Located at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW in Washington, D.C., the house was designed by Irish-born James Hoban, and built between 1792 and 1800 of white-painted Aquia sandstone in the Neoclassical...

, the United Nations

United Nations

The United Nations is an international organization whose stated aims are facilitating cooperation in international law, international security, economic development, social progress, human rights, and achievement of world peace...

and the Paris Peace Talks, pressing for better accountability, treatment and the speedy return of American MIA and POW soldiers, pilots, airmen, and sailors in the Vietnam War, as well as better policies related to their families. Grubb did not find out until after the war was over that her husband had died shortly after being shot down.

Creation and adoption of "You Are Not Forgotten, POW/MIA" flag

Then League President and POW wife Evelyn Grubb

Evelyn Grubb

oversaw the development of the now-famous National League of Families' POW/MIA flag

POW/MIA flag

The POW/MIA flag is an American flag designed as a symbol of citizen concern about United States military personnel taken as prisoners of war or listed as missing in action ....

in the early 1970s. The original design for the flag was then created by the artist William Graham Wilkin III. Evelyn Grubb was then also a driving force in gaining the flags adoption by the military, the U.S. Postal Service and other federal service agencies. Eventually the flag became widely popular and adoption of its use began to spread on its own, as the flag became a national symbol of Vietnam war remembrance. The flag, with the now widely recognized "You Are Not Forgotten, POW/MIA" logo is still flown in front of all U.S. post offices, all major U.S. military installations, and most fire stations, police stations, many state level agencies and also most veterans organizations chapters across the United States today, and is almost always present at most local and national veterans events in the United States. The flag is consequently still visible to millions of Americans on a daily basis.

1980s: Split and founding of alternate group

In the 1980s a different group, the National Alliance Of Families For the Return of America's Missing Servicemen

National Alliance of Families

The National Alliance Of Families For the Return of America's Missing Servicemen is an American organization founded in 1990. According the group's web site, its goal is to resolve the fates of any unreturned U.S...

, was formed as a split-off by National League of Families members over a disagreement with then League President Ann Mills Griffith over tactics the organization should employ in pursuing its goals, and disagreements about the status of missing servicemen by the 1980s. Compared to the league, the National Alliance takes a more activist, radical stance, especially with regards towards the Vietnam War POW/MIA issue

Vietnam War POW/MIA issue

The Vietnam War POW/MIA issue concerns the fate of United States servicemen who were reported as missing in action during the Vietnam War and associated theaters of operation in Southeast Asia...

and belief in the existence of "live prisoners" in Southeast Asia.

Current status of organization

The League's national office, based in Arlington, Virginia, is still run by one full-time employee and various volunteers. To date, more than sixteen hundred U.S. servicemen are still listed as Missing in Action in the Vietnam War and efforts continue by certain departments of the U.S. government and the National League of Families to ascertain the fate of these missing service members. Debate continues as to whether or not the efforts by the U.S. government, the Vietnamese government in Hanoi and other governments historically involved in the war have been, or continue to be, sufficient regarding the effort to find these missing soldiers, pilots, airmen and sailors. The National League of Families continues to work at keeping the pressure on both Washington and Hanoi to bring complete resolution to this issue on behalf of each family with a loved one still missing in Vietnam.

External links