The sun rises behind a POW/MIA flag (AP Photo/Nick Ut)
Newt Heisley
Designer of the POW/MIA flag has died. He was 88.
COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (AP)
Newt Heisley, the designer of the POW/MIA flag adopted by Congress in 1990 as a symbol of the nation's concern for those missing during military actions in Southeast Asia, has died. He was 88.
Heisley died at his home in Colorado Springs Thursday after years of failing health, said his son Jim.
Heisley's image sketched in pencil in 1971 during the Vietnam War shows the silhouette of a gaunt man, a strand of barbed wire and a watchtower in the background with the words POW/MIA "You are not forgotten."
Congress in 1998 mandated the flag be displayed at the White House, U.S. Capitol, military installations and other federal buildings on national observances that include Memorial Day and the Fourth of July. The flag also flies at Veterans Affairs medical centers each day, along with the American flag.
Heisley was working at a New Jersey ad agency when he was assigned the task of submitting a design. His oldest son, Jeffrey, now 61, who had contracted hepatitis while training at Quantico, Va., in preparation for a tour of Vietnam, provided the inspiration for the silhouette, Jim Heisley told The Associated Press Sunday. The words came from Heisley's experience of flying C-46 transport planes over the Pacific Ocean during World War II.
"He told me many a time that when he was flying missions out over the water at night, he'd look around and say, "Oh my God, if I put this thing in the drink or land on a deserted island, I hope to hell they don't forget about me,'" Jim Heisley said.
Heisley's original plan was to add purple and white, but the stark black and white pencil drawing proved popular. The image was never copyrighted and Heisley didn't financially benefit from his design that has been used on everything from lapel pins to vehicle designs, Jim Heisley said.
Newt Heisley
May 14, 2009
Memory Book
“ Dear Newt, I thank-you for spending time with me on our trip out to the Springs. You are a great artist and Great Human! It was an honor to know you...Read More » ”
Posted by: Tammy Temple - Fayetteville, NC
