POW-MIA flag back atop White House, reversing Trump era decision

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. President Joe Biden's administration on Friday restored a flag honoring missing war veterans atop the White House after his predecessor angered some veterans by moving it last year to a less prominent location.

The POW-MIA flag, dedicated to prisoners of war and service members missing in action, was relocated by former President Donald Trump in 2020 from a prominent position atop the White House to a spot on the South Lawn.

A group of bipartisan lawmakers had been calling on Biden to return the flag to the top of the White House.

"It is a powerful way to continually remember and pay tribute to the tremendous sacrifice of prisoners of war and missing service members," Democratic Senator Maggie Hassan said in a statement on Friday.

The black-and-white POW-MIA flag reads, “You are not forgotten,” and depicts a man beneath a guard tower gazing down at a barbed-wire fence. About 82,000 U.S. servicemembers are still listed as missing from conflicts dating back to World War Two.

"The president and the first lady are proud to be doing this. They moved forward in making sure that the flag went up," a White House official said.

(Reporting by Idrees Ali and Steve Holland; Editing by Dan Grebler)