A prisoner of war (POW) is a person who is held captive by a belligerent power during or immediately after an armed conflict. The earliest recorded usage of the phrase "prisoner of war" dates back to 1610.

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.

On March 26, 1964, the first U.S. service member imprisoned during the Vietnam War was captured near Quảng Trị, South Vietnam when an L-19/O-1 Bird Dog observation plane flown by Captain Richard L. Whitesides and Captain Floyd James …

In international armed conflict, such persons are known as prisoners of war (PoWs) and have always been particularly vulnerable to abuse, due to their affiliation with the enemy and the fact that their captivity usually occurs against the backdrop of wartime animosity.

Feb 21, 2025 · prisoner of war (POW), any person captured or interned by a belligerent power during war. In the strictest sense it is applied only to members of regularly organized armed forces, but by broader definition it has also included guerrillas, civilians who take up arms against an enemy openly, or noncombatants associated with a military force.

Oct 25, 2022 · In the largest war of the Twentieth Century — World War II - thousands of Americans were held as prisoners of war. In Europe, nearly 94,000 Americans were imprisoned as POWs.

A prisoner of war shall be tried only by a military court, unless the existing laws of the Detaining Power expressly permit the civil courts to try a member of the armed forces of the Detaining Power in respect of the particular offence alleged to have been committed by the prisoner of war.

Oct 26, 2022 · From the first Geneva Convention in 1864, to Hague Conferences in 1899, 1907, and 1914, international rules of war and universal standards for the treatment of prisoners were developed.

The rules protecting prisoners of war (POWs) are specific and were first detailed in the 1929 Geneva Convention. They were refined in the Third Geneva Convention of 1949, following the …

The On-Line Memorial and Museum of Prisoners of War provides a permanent commemoration of prisoners of war, and a focal point for research, activities and events.