TODAY is National POW/MIA Recognition Day

In the United States, National POW/MIA Recognition Day is observed on the third Friday in September. It honors those who were prisoners of war and those who are still missing in action.

The POW/MIA flag was created by the National League of Families and officially recognized by the Congress in conjunction with the Vietnam War POW/MIA issue, "as the symbol of our Nation's concern and commitment to resolving as fully as possible the fates of Americans still prisoner, missing and unaccounted for in Southeast Asia, thus ending the uncertainty for their families and the Nation."

The original design for the flag was created by William Graham Wilkin III. The National League of Families then-national coordinator, POW wife Evelyn Grubb, oversaw its development and also campaigned to gain its widespread acceptance and use by the United States government and also local governments and civilian organizations across the United State.

This day was established by an Act of Congress, by the passage of Section 1082 of the 1998 Defense Authorization Act. It is one of six days that the POW/MIA Flag can be flown.

The POW/MIA flag was first recognized by Public Law 101-355 in 1990
PND: Honoring today my uncle Robert Neely Jr., (West Point,MS) my father's oldest brother and oldest sibling, who was MIA/POW in the Korean War.
It was only recently ...about 3 yrs ago that the family was contacted by the Army with notification that his remains and those of others were found/identified in a POW camp/starvation.

Prisoner of War Medal

Awarded for actions during the Korean War  
 

Private First Class Robert Neely, Jr. United States Army, 

was held as a Prisoner of War after he was captured 

on 28 November 1950 during the Korean War. 

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MY POETRY: My Style- Patricia Neely-Dorsey

Many of my poems are rhyming poems. I think that my love of rhyming poems and the rhythm that seems to come naturally to me for my poems , comes from the type of poems that I originally fell in love with as a child.
From the time that I was very young , my father would recite poetry to as he would stand at the sink shaving . With me attentively watching and listening, he would very animatedly recite his favorites. One of those was "When Malindy Sings " by Paul Laurence Dunbar.  As I got older we would recite that poem in sort of duet, almost like a song. Those are still cherished memories for me and have left a strong influence and imprint on my style of reading and writing poetry.

It is very sad to me that the "Modern Poetry " movement has, in many ways, tried to totally disregard, dismiss and discredit rhyming poems in general in this era, considering that the rhyming poems of the past have been the most remembered, most recited and memorized poems over the past hundreds of years. The rhyming poems have been the ones, for generations that school children have been given to learn. The rhyming poems are the ones that have been so frequently repeated and referred to in acceptance and motivational speeches. The rhyming poems have been the ones that have captivated the hearts of the general poetry lover.

Now, rhyming poems have been labeled by so many in academia as "hobby poetry"....so sad.  Can you actually find a more famous or move beloved poem than Edgar Allan Poe's rhyming poem "Annabelle Lee"?
Are there any more beautiful poems than the many rhyming poems of Emily Dickinson?

Paul Laurence Dunbar was the first African-American to gain national eminence as a poet.  Born in 1872 in Dayton, Ohio, he was the son of ex-slaves and classmate to Orville Wright of aviation fame.
Although he lived to be only 33 years old, Dunbar was prolific, writing short stories, novels, librettos, plays, songs and essays as well as the poetry for which he became well known. He was popular with black and white readers of his day, and his works are celebrated today by scholars and school children alike.
His style encompassed two distinct voices -- the standard English of the classical poet and the evocative dialect of the turn-of-the-century black community in America.

Paul Laurence Dunbar Web Site :
http://www.dunbarsite.org/