The Prisoner of War Medal is a military award 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  § 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 April 6). 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 2013, the medal is also awarded for captivity under circumstances "which the Secretary concerned finds were comparable to those circumstances 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.
No more than one Prisoner of War Medal may be awarded. For any subsequent award of the medal, service stars will be awarded and worn on the suspension and service ribbon of the medal.
The medal was designed by Jay C. Morris of the United States Army Institute of Heraldry.
Legal.
Legislative proposals for the medal.
The idea of creating a military award to recognize prisoners of war was first put forth in 1944. However, the military services opposed the idea, claiming that other medals could be awarded in such cases. Congressman F. Edward Hébert (D-LA) submitted a bill to create a POW lapel button in 1971, but the bill was defeated. The Defense Department told Herbert that the pin "could have an adverse impact on the morale and pride of those families whose members are or were missing in action," and also claimed that it was inappropriate to seem to reward soldiers for having suffered with "such an undesirable status" as prisoners of war.
The first Senate bill to create a POW Medal was submitted by Senator John G. Tower (R-TX) in the same year, but his bill was also defeated due to opposition by the military services. Congressman G. William Whitehurst (R-VA) proposed the medal again in 1975, and was informed by the Department of Defense that "the present hierarchy of military awards is adequate for recognizing valorous and meritorious acts" performed by former POWs. The Iran hostage crisis in 1979 changed the attitudes of many Americans toward POWs, and helped convince Congress to authorize a POW Medal.
In April 1981, only months after the Iran hostages were released, Congressman Robert Badham (R-CA) introduced the POW Medal yet again. This bill was also defeated. Senator Alan K. Simpson (R-WY) asked the Department of Defense to create a "Prisoner of War Recognition Medal" in 1983, and the Department of the Army informed him that awards were only intended as "an incentive to achieve some higher goal or perform some desired service" and maintained that surrendering did not accomplish any such goal. Only in 1985 did Congress pass legislation creating the POW Medal, notably over the Pentagon's objections.
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 Arizona. It was first 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.
According to Roth, "This amendment will formally recognize that character of military service which arises under the most hostile and difficult of circumstances -- that of being held prisoner by the enemy." The House version of this amendment was submitted on June 21, by Congressman Robert J. Lagomarsino. According to Lagomarsino, "Official recognition of American prisoners of war is long overdue, Mr. Chairman. This medal will honor the more than 142,000 prisoners of war, and their families, who have sacrificed their liberty for the freedom of this country during World War I, World War II, and the Korean and Vietnam wars."
Scope of legislation.
The original wording contained in Public Law 99-145 only authorized the POW Medal for 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."
Accordingly, DoD policy articulated in 1988 concluded that only military captives taken prisoner by enemy or opposing states during active armed conflict were eligible for the award. Specifically, DoD policy stated that "hostages of terrorists and persons detained by governments with which the US is not actively engaged in armed conflict are not eligible for the medal."
The armed conflict requirements in 10 USC 1128(a)(1-3) were drawn verbatim from a 1963 Act of Congress that added the same criteria to most valor awards, which is why the original POW Medal shares the same combat prerequisites with the Medal of Honor, Distinguished Service Cross, Silver Star, and other valor awards. In 1963 Congress drew these three permutations of combat from President Kennedy's executive order of April 25, 1962, which added the same criteria to the Purple Heart. Kennedy had also added similar criteria for the Bronze Star prior to the 1963 act.
The 1963 law was necessary because Cold War armed conflicts did not qualify for consideration under previous statutes such as the 1918 Act of Congress that required valor "in action involving actual conflict with an enemy" for awards such as the Medal of Honor and Distinguished Service Cross. Requiring conflict with an enemy was problematic since the United States had not formally declared war since World War II as a result of the provisions of the United Nations Charter. According to congressional testimony by the Army's deputy chief of staff for personnel, the services were seeking authority to award the Medal of Honor and other valor awards retroactive to July 1, 1958, in areas such as Berlin, Lebanon, Quemoy and Matsu Islands, Taiwan Straits, Congo, Laos, Vietnam, and Cuba. These were all areas where the DoD authorized the Armed Forces Expeditionary Medal.
Challenges to legislation.
A congressional inquiry on behalf of the former crew of , who were detained in North Korea in 1968, resulted in a 1988 DoD General Counsel opinion authored by Kathleen A. Buck. The general counsel argued that the Pueblo's "passive type of activity hardly qualifies ... as an 'action', a term that denotes violence in the employment of weapons." Therefore, Buck concluded that the Pueblo crew was not involved in active armed conflict and fell outside the statute, a position that was hotly contested by the crew and even by the congressmen who authored the legislation. Commander Lloyd M. Bucher, the former commanding officer of the "Pueblo", responded to the review and petitioned directly to the Chief of Naval Operations, Admiral Carlisle Trost. Bucher claimed that the DoD's position on the medal was "simply contrary to the facts," noting that the "Pueblo" crew received the Navy's Combat Action Ribbon "specifically for surface combat with North Korea on 23 January 1968."
Bucher's petition eventually resulted in the Navy's supporting an amendment to the POW Medal statute to allow eligibility for service members taken captive during situations other than armed conflict. Congressman Robert Lagomarsino, author of the original POW Medal legislation, also agreed with Bucher. He said in an affidavit that the "Pueblo" crew were denied the medal due to a "technicality," and claimed that "it was never my intent to preclude the crew members of the USS "Pueblo" from eligibility for this medal."
Others, including the military hostages held during the U.S. Embassy hostage crisis in Tehran, Iran from 1979 to 1981, likewise objected to their ineligibility. Responding to May 1989 congressional inquiry on behalf of the Iran hostages, Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense David J. Berteau, a career civilian who had never served in the U.S. armed forces, noted that, "...many Service members have been held as hostages, detainees or internees who do not meet the criteria for award of the POW Medal."
Berteau explained that the criteria for the medal applied only in "wartime situations," and argued that, "...once the criteria is divorced from wartime situations, it will be difficult to establish a basis for the award in the many other circumstances which could occur." In addition, Berteau argued with regard to granting the medal to people captured outside formal armed conflict, i.e., being detained by those who are not officially enemies of the United States. "If the criteria were changed to recognize all members held as prisoners, hostages, detainees and internees," he said, " the recognition originally intended for actual prisoners of war will be lost."
1989 expansion.
 § 1128 was later modified by Pub. L. , 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."
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, such as the "USS Pueblo" crew detained in North Korea in 1968, the U.S. Navy and U.S. Army Air Forces flight crews interned in the neutral USSR during World War II, the U.S. Army Air Forces crews interned in neutral Switzerland during World War II, U.S. Marine Corps Colonel William R. Higgins who was kidnapped in 1988 and executed by Hezbollah-affiliated terrorists, and the U.S. Marines from the U.S. Embassy in Teheran, Iran who were held hostage by terrorists from 1979 to 1981 in the Iran Hostage Crisis. The 1989 amendment is no longer in the statute; it was later removed by the 2013 amendment, due to policy mistakes that effectively precluded its implementation.
Intent of 1989 amendment.
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" capture, but that due to the wording of the statute the detainees simply did not "meet the literal requirements of the law." Admiral J.M. Boorda, the (then) Deputy Chief of Naval Operations, made a policy statement to the House Committee on Armed Services on behalf of OSD and OMB: "Within the Department of Defense, the general counsel has determined that the "Pueblo" crew does not, under the current statute, qualify for the POW medal…Additionally, persons detained by governments with which the United States is not engaged actively in armed conflict are not eligible for the POW medal. As a result, if an award is to be made, and I believe it should be, it is necessary to amend the existing statute that is currently being processed through the Department." Rep. Jim Slattery, who drafted the House version of the 1989 amendment to 10 USC § 1128, explained to the House Committee on Armed Services that the amendment was intended to remedy "a quirk in the law" that required active armed conflict against an enemy state.
As a result, detainees of non-enemies such as the crew of the USS "Pueblo" were not eligible for consideration for the award, since "the United States was not in open conflict with North Korea at the time the USS "Pueblo" was attacked." According to Senator Alan Cranston, who drafted the Senate version of the 1989 amendment to 10 USC § 1128, "The Department of Defense has interpreted that provision [Public Law 99-145], which is codified at section 1128 of title 10, as not