POW/MIA Flag Now Posted in Bemidji City Hall

Another flag is now on display at Bemidji City Hall.

This time, war veterans who were either prisoners of war or missing in action were honored as the POW/MIA flag was installed at Monday night’s city council meeting.

Members of the American Legion and VFW honor guard posted the flag, which now stands alongside the three tribal flags that were posted in December of last year. At the meeting, a Vietnam veteran shared the importance of this moment not only for all veterans in the area, but for himself as well.

“February 12, it will be 50 years when I was released [as a POW]. There was 27 of us that came out of South Vietnam. The rest of them all came out of North Vietnam, so I was pretty lucky, and it will be, as I said next Sunday, is when this chain came off my leg,” said Sgt. Gary Guggenberger, while holding the chain in his left hand.

Guggenberger also received a plaque of recognition from Bemidji mayor Jorge Prince.