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Hostages and Wrongful Detainees (U.S.)

Prisoner Of War - Missing In Action

image by Zachary Harden, 24 January 2025

Meaning and use of the flag

See also:

Meaning and use of the flag

From https://www.politico.com/news/magazine/2022/08/30/a-flag-for-american-hostages-00054115, a proposal for a flag to recognize hostages and wrongful detainees:

With an Act of Congress, a new banner could be flown under the Stars and Stripes on government buildings — from post offices throughout the country to embassies around the world. The flag would serve as a national promise to the families of hostages and wrongfully detained Americans that the United States is doing everything in its power to get them back. It also would spread awareness of the national emergency this issue has quickly become, hopefully leading to more pressure on the government to act — and deliver — on that promise.

After a lengthy design process, the families of current and former hostages and the organizations that support them have helped create such a flag.

There are five main elements to the flag. First, the flag’s title, “Hostages and Wrongful Detainees,” which complies with the recognized language of The Levinson Act. Second, the counting-days symbol, which emphasizes the central attribute of their struggle: Each day that passes is another day that hostage families are robbed of being whole. Third, three human profiles, which represent the hostage’s individual fight and shows our nation’s diversity. Fourth, the motto “Bring Them Home,” which is a call to action. Fifth, the flag’s yellow and black colors, which hearken to the tradition of using yellow ribbons to remember our captives and the darkness of their cells, dungeons and caves.

William Garrison, 2 September 2022

See also NAVA Vexibits, August 2022: https://nava.org/content.aspx?page_id=22&club_id=622278&module_id=514530
Pete Loeser, 2 September 2022

The design can be seen at https://x.com/HostageAid in use. The actual legal code is at https://uscode.house.gov, which provides code on when and how it is used. The law that made it happen can be seen at https://uscode.house.gov/statviewer.htm. I assume the flag is normally 3x5 feet but there are many sizes available for the public to use. I do not know if this flag flies below the POW/MIA flag when displayed together or any days that could conflict. See https://uscode.house.gov/view.xhtml?req=granuleid:USC-prelim-title36-section902&num=0&edition=prelim for reference.
Zachary Harden, 24 January 2025