GreasyOnline.com - KY Vietnam Veterans Memorial and the POW/MIA Flag

Many of you have asked me about the POW/MIA flag at the Kentucky Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Frankfort, Ky. Below is the true story about this.
Danny "Greasy" Belcher, Executive Director
Task Force Omega of KY Inc.
Vietnam Infantry Sgt. 68-69
"D" Troop 7th Sqdn. 1st Air Cav

In 1997, we had the first Vietnam Veterans reunion in Kentucky and it was called LZ Bluegrass. We have not had the reunion since 2001, due to all of the hard work and support needed to do this right. It was usually held in Frankfort, KY. Sometime during the first reunion, I was approached by some Vietnam Veterans and told that the POW/MIA flag was not flown everyday at our KY Vietnam Veterans Memorial. I asked the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fund Committee about this, as they were in control of the Memorial, which sits on state land. I was told that they would not do this and I never got what I consider a reasonable answer.

We sent petitions and letters and got no results. I contacted Gov. Wallace Wilkinson and he called and asked that the POW/Mia flag be flown at the Memorial on all federal holidays and during LZ Bluegrass. This was done, and I also want to say that Gov. Wilkinson was the only Governor of KY to ever come to the LZ Bluegrass, even though it was held in Frankfort.

Gov. Wilkinson told us to keep trying until it flew there everyday, as it showed respect to all Veterans.

In 1991, we started Task Force Omega of KY Inc. and pushed harder to have the POW/MIA flag flying everyday at our Memorial.

In 1993 the Senate Select Committee on POW/MIA Affairs was formed. Chairman Sen. John Kerry and Sen. John McCain tried to stop any information coming out about live Americans being left behind after Korea and Vietnam. The final report, thanks to Sen. Bob Smith, Sen. Charles Grassley and some courageous staff investigators, said that some Americans were left behind. Col. Ron Ray, former Asst. Secretary of Defense under President Ronald Regan and the founding Director of the KY Vietnam Veterans Memorial, also said we had 742 American POWs left behind after Vietnam. He wanted the POW/MIA flag to fly at the KY Vietnam Veterans Memorial everyday. In 1999, Col. Ray sent a letter to Gov. Patton telling him why the POW/MIA flag should be flown everyday. He enclosed many documents about live American POWs being left behind.

There is no doubt that American POW/MIAs were left behind after all of our wars. This POW/MIA flag says we will not forget these people from all of our wars.

Representatives of eight veterans’ groups and I met with Lt. Governor Patton and presented him with a petition over forty feet long asking for the POW/MIA flag to be flown everyday. As Lt. Governor, he wrote a letter asking that the POW/MIA flag be flown everyday at the memorial, but the request was not granted. He said that he couldn’t do much as Lt. Governor, but he could if elected Governor. He seemed to forget this, as he did nothing to help after being elected Governor.

In the General assembly in Frankfort, Sen. Ernie Harris entered SJ-76, which would ask the Governor to order that the POW/MIA flag be flown everyday at our Memorial. Col. Ron Ray also told him that KY was the only state to have a Vietnam Veterans Memorial with a flagpole that was not flying the POW/MIA flag everyday. SJ-76 passed the Senate and went to the House Committee on Military Affairs. Chairman Mike Weaver and Jodie Hayden, who were Vietnam veterans, voted it down. This was after many calls and letters from Veterans of all wars and thousands of supporters.

Col. Ron Ray, the founding director of the KY Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Frankfort, asked to meet with the Memorial Fund Committee. He was granted a meeting, and he presented his case of why the POW/MIA flag should be flown everyday under the American flag. He talked about live American POWs being abandoned and why he thought they were wrong in not flying the POW/MIA flag every day. He also said if anyone wanted to see the evidence he had about the 742 Americans being abandoned, he would be glad to show them. After the meeting, and to this day, no one on the Memorial Fund Committee has asked to see the evidence Col. Ray has.

The Run for the Wall comes from California each year with hundreds of motorcycles and vehicles. They are traveling to the Wall in DC for the annual Rolling Thunder Rally for POW/MIAs, which attracts thousands. They stop at the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in KY to pay their respect. One year they had a Chevy S-10 full of petitions that said if the POW/MIA flag was not flying, they would not be traveling through KY, or if they did, they would not stop or buy gas here. Task Force Omega of KY's group with also hundreds of people, had petitions and calls to the KY Tourist Bureau, stating that they would not stop at the Memorial, as it hurt too many people and was a sign that KY did not care what the Veterans wanted.

Someone that was opposed to the POW/MIA flag flying everyday there said that it would take an act of congress to have the POW/Mia flag up everyday. The Memorial Committee said they were just doing what was done at the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington, DC. That was enough. Our Veterans deserved respect, and they and their supporters were not getting it in Kentucky.

In 2002, Larry Vigil, Legislative Director with Sen. Ben Nighthorse Campbell called me and wanted me to look at two bills he felt we needed to work on. One was to help account for Michael "Scott" Speicher who went down during the first Gulf War. The other would help our problem with the flag not flying here in KY. The Persian Gulf War POW/MIA Accountability Act (S-1339) would protect certain foreign nationals and their family if they helped bring out a live American POW. Senators Bunning and McConnell from KY were some of the first to be cosponsors on this Bill, which passed in 2003, and is now PL-107-258. Mohammed, his wife and child were protected and brought to the U.S. He helped rescue POW Jessica Lynch. He was protected due to this law. He would not have been protected before and may not have risked his and his family’s lives if we had not had this law, which had been broadcast in the Persian Gulf before the war started.

Another Bill, which was entered in 2002, was the POW/MIA Memorial Flag Act (S-1226). This Bill would have the POW/MIA flag fly everyday at the Vietnam Veterans Memorial (the Wall), the Korean War Memorial and the W.W. II Memorial in Washington, DC when it was finished. Sen. Bunning and Sen. McConnell from KY also cosponsored it. It passed in 2003 and is PL-107-323. I wrote twice and asked if the KY Vietnam Veterans Memorial Committee was going to go by what the Vietnam Veterans Memorial (The Wall) in Washington, DC was doing. I got no response, but a friend sent a letter and said that they were. We had gone to Congress and every Veteran and supporter had won. Their wishes were finally being done.

The POW/MIA flag is flown at Post Offices and many other public places. It flies at many courthouses in Kentucky and across the U.S. It flies at many Interstate rest areas in some states. It is displayed in the Capitol rotunda in Washington, DC. It should fly every where there are patriotic Americans. This is especially true as we are at war again in a foreign country. Flying the POW/MIA flag says that we care about our POW/MIAs, both those ex-POWs that have returned home and those that still remain unaccounted for. This is the least we can do to show our respect for our service people from all wars and those serving today. It is just a black flag that says we care. It is the least we can do to say thank you for the freedom we enjoy and we will not forget those that have paid the price.

Sincerely,
Danny “Greasy” Belcher, Executive Director
Task Force Omega of KY Inc.