COUNTYWIDE : Flag Flown in Honor of POWs and MIAs

A somber black and white flag with the inscription “You are not forgotten” flew over more than a dozen Orange County cities Friday, a local veterans group said, marking National POW/MIA Recognition Day.

Vietnam Veterans Reunited, a support group based in Huntington Beach for veterans and their families, asked all Orange County cities to fly the flag Friday as part of a campaign to increase public awareness of prisoners of war and soldiers who are missing in action, said Bob Kakuk of the veterans group.

The flag depicts the silhouette of a guard tower, a reminder of the watch kept over American prisoners in Southeast Asia, Kakuk said.

“It symbolizes that some men are still behind some barbed wire,” he said.

Some cities, such as La Habra and San Dimas, fly the flag year-round, while others have agreed to run it up the pole for Veterans Day in November or Memorial Day in May. Kakuk said his group is hoping that more cities will fly it on other significant holidays, such as the Fourth of July.

The cities that didn’t participate Friday--Santa Ana, Laguna Beach, Stanton and Newport Beach--either did not get the request to fly the flag in time to notify their city councils or ran into other problems, Kakuk said.

“The more people that see this flag, the more they will care,” he said. “And if enough people start yelling and screaming and get behind the cause, maybe someday we will get these people home.”

The veterans group has made the issue of missing soldiers its main concern.