The Story Behind The POW / MIA Flag

In acclaimed author Alvin Townley’s new book, Defiant: The POWs Who Endured Vietnam’s Most Infamous Prison, The Women Who Fought for Them, and the One Who Never Returned, readers will find a powerful and inspiring story about these 11 U.S. POW leaders and the indomitable women who fought to bring them home. Townley will speak to the Rotary Club of St. Andrews — Charleston at 12:30 p.m. this Thursday, Aug. 7 at Bessinger’s BBQ, on Savannah Highway.
While the New York Times described Townley’s new book Defiant as “Gripping…fresh and vivid,” perhaps it was better phrased by former POW and current U.S. Senator John McCain, who simply described the book as “riveting.” Former President Jimmy Carter described Defiant as “Inspirational and unforgettable.”
Despite beatings, solitary confinement, and torture, no group of U.S. POWs proved more uncooperative, problematic, and subversive than 11 leaders who the North Vietnamese “kicked out” of the Hanoi Hilton and sentenced to the terrible camp nicknamed Alcatraz. Yet despite their hardships, this band of brothers remained united, upheld their Code, and ultimately led more than 500 POWs to return home with honor.
But not just the POWs proved defiant. Their indomitable wives found politicians in Hanoi and Washington uncooperative, and these extraordinary women broke government policy, spoke out, and led a national campaign to bring their husbands home — a campaign that became the POW/MIA movement, signified by its black-and-white flag and the nation’s first cause-related wristbands: the POW/MIA bracelets. These silver bracelets were stamped with the names of those captured and missing — linking citizens with their compatriots who fought and now languished in their name — and compelled a country not to forget.
In February 1973, the POWs were finally released after up to eight long years, and most returned home safely; one of the eleven succumbed to the horrors of the Alcatraz POW camp. When these heroes came home, accounts of what they endured horrified but also inspired the nation and the world.
Perhaps no other group of servicemen and families in U.S. history has endured more hardship for more years than the men and women in Defiant. The book tells a harrowing, powerful, and ultimate inspiring story about resilience, patriotism, hope, and the strength of the human spirit.
To research the POW experience, Townley built a replica 4’x9’ POW cell in his garage and had himself locked inside. He is also the author of Legacy of Honor, Spirit of Adventure, and Fly Navy.
Alvin Townley will speak to the Rotary Club of St. Andrews — Charleston this Thursday, Aug. 7, 12:30 p.m. at Bessinger’s BBQ, located at 1602 Savannah Hwy. For more information visit www.standrewsrotaryclub.org.