When it seemed like the country was forgetting those veterans who made the ultimate sacrifice, Alan J. Micklin, 83, took up a one-man mission: to make sure that the National League of Families POW/MIA flag would fly wherever and whenever the U.S. flag flew.
The Bensalem man had the law on his side. In 1990, Congress designated the POW/MIA flag as our country’s symbol of concern for POWs and MIAs in Southeast Asia. Since 2019, the National POW/MIA Flag Act required the flag to be displayed beneath the American flag at prominent federal properties.
And now he has Lowe’s on his side.
The big accomplishment
On April 5, the POW/MIA flag was hoisted in Lowe’s Bensalem store as about 30 shoppers and staff were invited to stop for a moment to join the short ceremony. Lowe’s is known as a veteran-friendly corporation, with 26,000 of its 300,000 associates either veterans or military spouses.
“I emailed the executive vice president of Lowe’s, who is a veteran, and many of their other officers are veterans, and once they received it they really went for it,” Micklin said.
It was Joseph M. McFarland III, Lowe’s executive vice president of stores, a Gulf War and Desert Storm veteran, having served six years in the Marines, who gave Micklin’s quest the green light, starting with its nine Philadelphia district stores, which stretch from South Philadelphia to Warminster.
Store manager Holly Sonneborn, who has been a Lowe’s employee for 19 years, said she could tell that many of the shoppers and staff were deeply touched. “It was the first time we ever did something like this.”
Remembrance and grief
Since WWII, about 82,000 soldiers are categorized as prisoners of war (POW), missing in action (MIA), or otherwise unaccounted for. Micklin’s purpose is simple. He advocates for the flag because he believes we shouldn’t forget the grief that families suffer.
Veterans such as Capt. Ralph Galati, who served in the Air Force during the Vietnam War, said it was meaningful to see that, after 50 years, there was still an interest in the POW/MIA flag, but he also remembered a time when the reception of returning Vietnam service members, including POWs, was hostile.
Galati was only 23 years old when he was shot down, captured and became a POW from February 1972 until March 1973. “You may disagree [with the war] but at least respect the service members,” he said. “It added to the mental anguish. It was difficult coming back. Shame on us for that.”
“You may disagree but at least respect the service members.”
Ralph Galati
Time has changed America’s approach to those who fight, regardless of their opinion on the politics of the war.
“Everyone stood silently looking and I mentioned to them the importance of this flag and how far back it covers. A woman in the back was teary eyed. My reasons was to educate,” said Micklin, a Vietnam vet who entered the Army after graduating from Bartram High School.
“They applauded me. I couldn’t believe it.”
The flag’s importance
The POW/MIA flag was created in 1972 by New Jersey graphic artist and veteran Newton F. Heisley for Annin Flagmakers — at the time the world’s largest flag manufacturer — after the National League of Families of American Prisoners and Missing in Southeast Asia was looking for a flag design to promote its organization in 1971.
It is a black-and-white flag with a silhouette of a man with his head bowed, a guard tower, and a strand of barbed wire and the words “You Are Not Forgotten.”
“I would ask people and they don’t even know what the POW/MIA flag is. They have no clue” Micklin said.
Jeanette Toner Schelberg of Voorhees, knows all too well what the flag means.
“It’s a very important symbol. It’s amazing how many are still missing from all the wars.” Schelberg’s oldest brother, Cpl. Francis Toner, went missing after the Korean War’s brutal Battle of the Ch’ongch’on River on Nov. 26, 1950. A month later, Jeanette Toner, the family’s fifth child, was born.
I wasn’t alive when they received the news, but I saw the toll it took on my father.”
Jeanette Toner Schelberg
“I wasn’t alive when they received the news, but I saw the toll it took on my father,” said Schelberg who found letters her father had written to the armed forces searching for any information about his son. “He was devastated.”
Her brother, along with all Korean War MIA, were officially declared dead in 1953.
“I made it my mission to continue to look for his remains and identify him. It is the honor he deserves,” Schelberg said.
The next step
For about 20 years, Micklin has displayed the POW/MIA flag along with the American flag on the flagpole at his home in Bensalem but he grew increasingly concerned that the 2019 law was being flouted — dishonoring, he believed those who have never returned home.
Two years ago, he decided to insist that his township follow the federal law and start flying the POW/MIA flag along with the American Flag.
Over the last year Micklin said there have been accomplishments: the Boy Scouts in Doylestown, the library system in Bensalem, and individual firehouses throughout Bucks County have all agreed to display the flag.
Now Micklin is branching out. Lowe’s has been his largest accomplishment by far but he is already planning his next steps.
“I want that flag on every flagpole in the country, whether business or government,” Micklin said.
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