Prisoner of War Medal

Prisoner of War Medal
Awarded by United States of America
Type	Medal
Eligibility	Military personnel, US civilian nationals and foreign civilians who have been credited with U.S. military service which encompasses the period of captivity [1]
Awarded for	The Prisoner of War Medal may be awarded to any person who was a prisoner of war after April 5, 1917, (the date of the United States entry into World War I was the 6th)
Status	Currently Awarded
Statistics
First awarded	Signed into law by President Ronald Reagan in 1985 but can be awarded retroactively .
Distinct recipients	Bud Day John McCain James Stockdale Lloyd Bucher
Precedence
Next (higher)	Army - Achievement Medal Navy - Navy "E" Ribbon Air Force - Outstanding Unit Award
Next (lower)	Army, Navy, & Marine Corps - Good Conduct Medal Air Force - Combat Readiness Medal
Prisoner of War Ribbon

The Prisoner of War Medal is a military decoration of the United States armed forces which was authorized by Congress and signed into law by President Ronald Reagan on 8 November 1985. The United States Code citation for the POW Medal statute is 10 U.S.C. § 1128.

The Prisoner of War Medal may be awarded to any person who was a prisoner of war after April 5, 1917, (the date of the United States entry into World War I was the 6th). It is awarded to any person who was taken prisoner or held captive while engaged in an action against an enemy of the United States; while engaged in military operations involving conflict with an opposing Armed Force; or while serving with friendly forces engaged in armed conflict against an opposing Armed Force in which the United States is not a belligerent party. As of an amendment to Title 10 of the United States Code in 1989, the medal is also awarded for captivity by foreign armed forces that are hostile to the United States, under circumstances which the Secretary concerned finds to have been comparable to those under which persons have generally been held captive by enemy armed forces during periods of armed conflict. The person's conduct, while in captivity, must have been honorable. This medal may be awarded posthumously to the surviving next of kin of the recipient.

The medal was designed by Jay C. Morris of the United States Army Institute of Heraldry.

Legal

Original Legislation

The statute that established the POW Medal was Public Law 99-145, Title V, Sec. 532(a)(1), Nov. 8, 1985. The public law in question, which began as S.1160, was the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 1986, sponsored by Senator Barry Goldwater of AZ. It was amended on May 21, 1985 by Senator William V. Roth, Jr., to include the language that first established eligibility criteria for the POW Medal in Title 10, § 1128. The original wording only authorized a POW Medal to service members held captive “while engaged in an action against an enemy of the United States; while engaged in military operations involving conflict with an opposing foreign force; or while serving with friendly forces engaged in an armed conflict against an opposing armed force in which the United States is not a belligerent party.”^[2] Accordingly, detainees, internees, and hostages of terrorists were not originally authorized the award.

1989 Amendment

10 U.S.C. § 1128 was later modified by Public Law 101-189, Nov. 29, 1989, which originated from H.R.2461, the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 1990 and 1991. Sponsored by Representative Les Aspin, the bill added the fourth paragraph to Title 10 § 1128 and authorized the POW Medal for those captured “by foreign armed forces that are hostile to the United States, under circumstances which the Secretary concerned finds to have been comparable to those under which persons have generally been held captive by enemy armed forces during periods of armed conflict.”^[3] This amendment was the result of congressional recognition of multiple groups of individuals who were not originally authorized to receive the medal after Department of Defense review,^[4] such as the crew of the USS Pueblo (AGER-2) detained in the Democratic People's Republic of Korea in 1968, the US Navy and US Army Air Force crews interned in neutral Russia during World War II,^[5] US Marine Corps Lt. Col. William R. Higgins who was kidnapped in 1988 and executed by Hezbollah-affiliated terrorists,^[6] and the U.S. soldiers from the U.S. Embassy in Teheran, Iran who were held hostage by terrorists from 1979-1981 in the Iran hostage crisis.^[7] As expressed by the House Committee on Armed Services in report 101-121, the original intent of the POW Medal statute was to allow the award in incidents such as the USS Pueblo’s capture, but that due to the wording of the statute the detainees simply did not “meet the literal requirements of the law.”^[8] The Senate eventually drafted legislation that went well beyond only the crew of the USS Pueblo, which was intended to cover "any similar occurrence that the Service Secretary concerned deems comparable to the circumstances under which persons have generally been held captive by enemy armed forces during a war or conflict."^[9] The resulting exception clause is what the military services currently use to award the POW Medal to persons held by terrorists in current conflicts, since terrorists are not conventional enemy armed forces that would automatically qualify a captive for the award under the original statute adopted by the 99th Congress in 1985. Detainees and internees of neutral countries are also authorized the award provided that the service secretary determines that circumstances of their captivity were "comparable to those under which persons have generally been held captive by enemy armed forces during periods of armed conflict."

Awards under the Amended Statute

Soon after the passage of Public Law 101-189, the Navy awarded the POW Medal to the crew of the USS Pueblo in 1990, and from 1991-1993 the Air Force and the Navy awarded the POW Medal to all U.S. aircrew members interned in neutral Russia during World War II.^[10] More recently, the USMC embassy guards held hostage in the U.S. Embassy in Iran received the POW Medal from the Navy in 2000, and in the same year U2 pilot Gary Powers posthumously received the POW Medal from the USAF for his captivity in Russia. USMC Lt. Col. William R. Higgins posthumously received the POW Medal from the Navy in 2003. In 1996 and 2006 the USAF awarded POW Medals to USAAF T/Sgt Daniel Culler and Lt. Richard Pettit for illegal incarceration during World War II in prison camp Wauwilermoos, in neutral Switzerland.^[11] Recent U.S. Army hostages of terrorists in Iraq who received the POW Medal include Pvt. 1st Class Kristian Menchaca, and Pvt. 1st Class Thomas Lowell Tucker, who were abducted from a roadside checkpoint on June 16, 2006, and later executed by Al-Qaeda in Iraq. Several other U.S. Army soldiers received the POW Medal after the 20 January 2007 Karbala provincial headquarters raid including 1st Lt. Jacob Fritz, Spc. John Chism, and Pvt. 1st Class Shawn Falter. These soldiers were also killed during captivity.

Penalties for Misrepresentation

Any false verbal, written or physical claim to the Prisoner of War Medal, by an individual to whom it has not been awarded, shall be fined or/and imprisoned not more than six months. ^[12]

See also

References

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Prisoner of War Medal

• US Army Institute of Heraldry: Prisoner of War Medal

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