Editor’s note: Friday, September 15, 2023, is National POW/MIA Recognition Day. Established in 1979, by President Jimmy Carter’s signing a proclamation, the third Friday of September continues as National POW/MIA Recognition Day. Below is a reprinted 2021, Clay County, FL, feature that informs us of the woman who began this tradition.
Members of the community and local leaders gathered for a designation ceremony at Moody Avenue Park on…National POW/MIA Recognition Day, to honor the life and legacy of Mary Helen Hoff. A section of Moody Avenue in Clay County, FL, was designated as Mary Helen Hoff Memorial Avenue, in honor of the woman behind the POW/MIA flag.
In January of 1970, after giving birth to her fifth child, she learned her husband, Cmdr. Michael Hoff, was declared missing in action in Laos, during the Vietnam War. Through this painful situation, she was determined to find a way to support other families in the same situation.
“Just a few miles east of here on Rivero Drive is where mom got it all started. Our home had a formal dining room, where she started her crusade to press Washington to account for those missing in action and prisoners of war in Southeast Asia. A large circular dining table was stacked with corresponden[ce] that she was both sending and receiving in this effort,” said son Mike Hoff. “Even more visually and emotionally striking were the hundreds of silver and copper bracelets overflowing on that table, with names of POWs and MIAs from nearly every service branch in every corner of this great Nation.”
Mary Helen Hoff would then start selling POW and MIA bracelets, influencing the creation of the POW-MIA flag.
Due to her tireless efforts and compassion, the POW/MIA flag now flies over the White House, the U. S. Capitol, the Departments of State, and countless Government buildings across the Country.
Clay County [honored] her life and legacy by designating Moody Avenue from Peoria Road to Bus Loop Drive, in front of Montclair Elementary School in Orange Park, as Mary Helen Hoff Memorial Avenue.
“I only hope that seeing Mom’s name on a street sign will spark a conversation on who she was and, more importantly, who and what she was fighting for. As a Nation, we should never forget the sacrifices made, to keep us all safe and able to enjoy the freedoms we sometimes take for granted,” Hoff said.
Clay County Manager Howard Wanamaker said, “We will never forget those who with great honor gave everything, to ensure we [and] the United States of America are strong and free. I am proud to say that the idea for the POW/MIA flag [began] here in Clay County.”
This year [2021] marks the 50th anniversary since the original creation of the flag, whose inspiration started in Clay County.
Not only will the new mile marker honor Mary Helen Hoff’s legacy, it will also pay tribute to all those that are missing or have died in combat. Whether it be through the POW/MIA flag, the new mile marker, or the countless families Mary Helen Hoff helped, [because family members didn’t return home from combat], her legacy is cemented in compassion and hope–something Clay County hopes will never be forgotten.
(Copyright 2021 by WJXT News4Jax – All rights reserved.)