Your Story, His Story, the Legacy: Vietnam’s POW/MIA Wives

In the late 1960s, POW/MIA wives bucked government protocol and challenged the traditional role of “military wife.” These courageous women led by Sybil Stockdale on the West Coast, Jane Denton, Louise Mulligan, and Phyllis Galanti on the East Coast and later Helene Knapp in the Interior West organized to form the National League of POW/MIA Families. The women worked with Congress and the Nixon administration to demand accounting for their husbands and pursue their safe return after years of imprisonment and torture by the North Vietnamese. Curated by 2017 Dole Archives Curatorial Fellow Heath Hardage Lee, this special exhibition features documents, photos, oral histories and memorabilia from the Dole Archives, personal collections of POW/MIA families, and other institutions. Programming made possible by funding from Harlan and Alice Ann Ochs, of Colorado Springs, in honor of Larry Ochs. Learn more at

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