POW is the initialism for “prisoner of war,” a combatant who is held in continuing custody by an enemy power during or immediately after an armed conflict. During the Vietnam War, the North Vietnamese captured and held U.S. service members, especially pilots who had been shot down over North Vietnam and Laos. As POWs, many suffered from systematic mistreatment and torture. For its part, the United States and its allies in South Vietnam held enemy combatants during the same period, some of whom were allegedly tortured.
Context: Following the Paris Peace Accords of 1973, 591 U.S. prisoners of war were returned during Operation Homecoming. But speculation continued that American service members were kept as live prisoners after the war’s conclusion for the United States in 1973. A vocal group of POW/MIA activists maintains that there has been a concerted conspiracy by the Vietnamese government and every American government since then to hide the existence of these prisoners. The U.S. government has steadfastly denied that prisoners were left behind or that any effort has been made to cover up their existence. Several congressional investigations have looked into the issue, culminating with the largest and most thorough, the United States Senate Select Committee on POW/MIA Affairs of 1991–1993 led by Senators John Kerry, Bob Smith, and John McCain. It found “no compelling evidence that proves that any American remains alive in captivity in Southeast Asia.”
The fate of those missing in action has always been one of the most troubling and unsettling consequences of any war. In this case, the issue has been a highly emotional one to those involved, and is often considered the last depressing, divisive aftereffect of the Vietnam War.