National League of POW/MIA Families
Flag | |
Established | May 2, 1970 |
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Founder | Sybil Stockdale |
Founded at | Constitution Hall, Washington, D.C. |
Type | 501(c)(3), humanitarian organization |
23-7071242 | |
Headquarters | 5673 Columbia Pike, Suite 100, Falls Church, Virginia |
Coordinates | 38°51′06″N 77°07′28″W / 38.851579°N 77.124539°W |
Website | pow-miafamilies |
The National League of Families of American Prisoners and Missing in Southeast Asia, commonly known as the National League of POW/MIA Families or the League, is an American
The League's national office, based in Falls Church, Virginia, is managed 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.[1] 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.[2] 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.
History
The National League of POW/MIA Families' origins date to groups created by Sybil Stockdale and a group of POW/MIA wives in 1966 in Coronado, California. Sybil Stockdale's husband, Navy Commander James Stockdale, was shot down in 1965 and she was determined to make the American people aware of the mistreatment of U.S. POWs. Years later Evelyn Grubb became involved because she was frustrated with the lack of information from federal officials.[3] It was these groups that finally convinced the U.S. government to change their official stance on the POW/MIA issue in 1969.[4] The National League of Families was incorporated nationally in 1967 and later in Washington, D.C., on May 28, 1970.[5][4]
Another notable member of the league during the war was
In the 1980s a different group, the National Alliance Of Families For the Return of America's Missing Servicemen, 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.[7] Compared to the league, the National Alliance takes a more activist, radical stance, especially with regards towards the Vietnam War POW/MIA issue and belief in the existence of "live prisoners" in Southeast Asia.[8]
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Then-League President and POW wife
See also
- Defense Prisoner of War/Missing Personnel Office
- Joint POW/MIA Accounting Command
- List of United States servicemembers and civilians missing in action during the Vietnam War (1961–65)
- List of United States servicemembers and civilians missing in action during the Vietnam War (1966–67)
- List of United States servicemembers and civilians missing in action during the Vietnam War (1968–69)
- List of United States servicemembers and civilians missing in action during the Vietnam War (1970–71)
- List of United States servicemembers and civilians missing in action during the Vietnam War (1972–75)
- Vietnam War POW/MIA issue
References
- ^ "Vietnam-era unaccounted for statistical report" (PDF). Defense Prisoner of War/Missing Personnel Office. August 5, 2010. Archived from the original (PDF) on September 26, 2012.
- ^ Barbara Crossette (June 16, 1992). "Gulag Held M.I.A.'s, Yeltsin Suggests". The New York Times.
- ^ a b c "Evelyn Fowler Grubb, 74, Leader Of a Group Supporting P.O.W.'s". The New York Times. January 4, 2006.
- ^ Wainwright, Loudon (November 10, 1972). "When Johnny Comes Marching Home Again - or doesn't". Life.
- ^ a b c d e f g h Grubb and Jose, You Are Not Forgotten, [page needed].
- ^ McCain and Salter, Faith of My Fathers, pp. 290–291.
- ^ Keating, Prisoners of Hope, p. 52.
- ^ McConnell and Schweitzer, Inside Hanoi's Secret Archives, p. 390.
- ^ "Evelyn Grubb, 74; Advocated Humane Treatment for POWs of Vietnam Era". Los Angeles Times. January 4, 2006.
Bibliography
- ISBN 978-0-918339-71-3.
- Keating, Susan Katz (1994). Prisoners of Hope: Exploiting the POW/MIA Myth in America. New York: ISBN 0-679-43016-4.
- ISBN 0-375-50191-6.
- McConnell, Malcolm; Theodore G. Schweitzer III (1995). Inside Hanoi's Secret Archives: Solving the MIA Mystery. ISBN 0-671-87118-8.
- Naval Institute Press.
- Lee, Heath Hardage (2020). The League of Wives. St. Martin's Press. ISBN 9781250161109.