POW-MIA flag flies again at Nevada Capitol

CARSON CITY (AP) - A POW-MIA flag is flying again in front of the Nevada Capitol after a persistent campaign by a Vietnam War veteran.

Frank Janata of Las Vegas began his quest after visiting Carson City in September and noticing the flag honoring prisoners of war and those missing in action wasn't displayed at the Capitol.

Janata tells the Las Vegas Review-Journal that he tried to contact Gov. Jim Gibbons, himself a war veteran, and finally called the media.

The flag went up late last week.

"I had tears in my eyes when they called me and said the flag was up," Janata said. "I didn't do this for me, I did it for veterans. The flag is very special to us. The POWs and MIAs never will be forgotten by us."

Gibbons said he can only speculate why the POW-MIA has not been flying in front of the Capitol.

In the past, the flag flew over the Capitol, but he thinks someone stopped that practice because of the cost of replacing flags. Flags flying on top of the Capitol dome must be replaced every few weeks because they are ripped apart by winds. A 3-foot-by-5-foot flag costs about $45.

Gibbons said they will fly from now on, atop the flagpole in front of the building, which doesn't face such strong winds.

The National League of Families of American Prisoners and Missing in Southeast Asia began drives in the 1970s to place the POW-MIA flag on public buildings out of concern for missing service members in Vietnam, but the flag has come to represent the missing or captured from all American wars.