The POW/MIA flag honoring U.S. veterans imprisoned or vanished overseas is being flown above the White House once more after being removed from its roof when former President Trump was in office.
“In keeping with the president and the first lady’s commitment to honor the sacrifices of all those who serve — including veterans, their families, caregivers, and survivors — the president and first lady have restored the POW/MIA flag to its original location on top of the White House Residence,” White House press secretary Jen Psaki told reporters during a press briefing Friday afternoon.
The flag, which was adopted during the Vietnam War to recognize American prisoners of war and those missing in action, is required under a 2019 law to be displayed on prominent federal properties.
It was removed from the White House roof for an event held on Memorial Day last May and not returned, however, leading a bipartisan group of lawmakers to recently ask President Biden to put it back.
“I am thankful that the POW/MIA flag now once again flies high in its rightful place above the White House,” said Sen. Maggie Hassan, a New Hampshire Democrat who had requested it be returned.
“It is a powerful way to continually remember and pay tribute to the tremendous sacrifice of prisoners of war and missing service members,” Ms. Hassan said in a statement. “I am thinking of their families and loved ones today and always as we honor their brave service to keep our country safe, secure and free.”
Ms. Hassan — along with Sens. Tom Cotton, Arkansas Republican, and Elizabeth Warren, Massachusetts Democrat — asked Mr. Biden at the start of his presidency to return the flag to the White House roof.
All three senators previously sponsored the bipartisan National POW/MIA Flag Act, signed into law by Mr. Trump in November 2019, requiring it to be displayed on federal properties like the White House.
Months after the law took effect, the flag was moved last year to a less visible site on the south lawn of the White House where Mr. Trump had dedicated a POW/MIA memorial during his presidency.
The POW/MIA flag was returned to atop the White House on National Former Prisoner of War Recognition Day, which former President Ronald Reagan designated in 1988 to occur annually on April 9.
Rep. Brian Mast, Florida Republican, said in a statement he shared on social media that the return of the POW/MIA flag to the White House roof was a “symbolic victory on a solemn and important day!”
• Andrew Blake can be reached at ablake@washingtontimes.com.
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