POWMIA

Annotation

The song "POWMIA" (Wrayco Records # WM 219) by Sandy Bagley, the wife of P.O.W. Major Bobby Ray Bagley, captured in North Vietnam on 16 September 1967, and released on 14 March 1973.12 The back of the 7" single picture sleeve said "Housewife, Sandy Bagley of Sumter, S.C. sings her own true story about her husband, Major Bobby Bagley who has been a prisoner of war for five years and still remains along with many husbands, fathers, sons, and brothers in POW camps half way across the world - Sandy and her daughter, Little Vicky Ann, keep a constant prayer on their lips and faith in their hearts that soon, Major Bobby Bagley and all the prisoners of war and those missing in action will once again be back home with the ones whose love is mightier than the sword".3 Word and music by Cecil Null. Her local newspaper in South Carolina, The Sumter Daily praised her single, writing that "on Sandy's recent trip to Nashville...she went to this great music center: to try to tell as many Americans as possible about the POW-MIA situation through music...Since her return, she has heard from (and talked with) Johnny Price, who is ready to release his own recording to help her cause, The Ballad of the POW".4 Johnny Price did release the single "Ballad of Our P.O.W.'s", discussed below. Bagley wrote the b-side of that single, "Santa Bring Daddy for Christmas". Bagley's song also picked up nation coverage in Billboard on 12 August 1972, which reported that "the wife of a prisoner of war in Vietnam has done a country single".5Sources1P.O.W. Network↩2oldglorytraditions.com (archived copy)↩3POWMIA (PS) (Sandy Bagley)↩4Google News Archive↩5Billboard, 12 August 1972↩

Annotation by Justin A. Brummer

Annotation — P.O.W. / M.I.A. Songs

The song "POWMIA" (Wrayco Records # WM 219) by Sandy Bagley, the wife of P.O.W. Major Bobby Ray Bagley, captured in North Vietnam on 16 September 1967, and released on 14 March 1973.12 The back of the 7" single picture sleeve said "Housewife, Sandy Bagley of Sumter, S.C. sings her own true story about her husband, Major Bobby Bagley who has been a prisoner of war for five years and still remains along with many husbands, fathers, sons, and brothers in POW camps half way across the world - Sandy and her daughter, Little Vicky Ann, keep a constant prayer on their lips and faith in their hearts that soon, Major Bobby Bagley and all the prisoners of war and those missing in action will once again be back home with the ones whose love is mightier than the sword".3 Word and music by Cecil Null. Her local newspaper in South Carolina, The Sumter Daily praised her single, writing that "on Sandy's recent trip to Nashville...she went to this great music center: to try to tell as many Americans as possible about the POW-MIA situation through music...Since her return, she has heard from (and talked with) Johnny Price, who is ready to release his own recording to help her cause, The Ballad of the POW".4 Johnny Price did release the single "Ballad of Our P.O.W.'s", discussed below. Bagley wrote the b-side of that single, "Santa Bring Daddy for Christmas". Bagley's song also picked up nation coverage in Billboard on 12 August 1972, which reported that "the wife of a prisoner of war in Vietnam has done a country single".5 Sources1P.O.W. Network↩2oldglorytraditions.com (archived copy)↩3POWMIA (PS) (Sandy Bagley)↩4Google News Archive↩5Billboard, 12 August 1972↩

Annotation by Justin A. Brummer

Lyrics

English: POWMIA, missing in action, POWMIA, prisoners of war / We miss you, missing in action...prisoners of war / Bobby and me and little Vicky Ann made up the world we lived for / Bobby was told to go to Vietnam / Now he's a prisoner of war / Bobby named his plane 'Little Baby Doll' / The first words from our baby girl / He was shot down over North Vietnam / We want him back in our world / In his last letter of six tiny lines he said he was doing OK / He said god will help us when he has the time / So thanks for your prayers everyday

Notes

Wrayco Records Inc., 8005 Pulaski Hy., Baltimore, Md. 21237, WM 219 (WM 219-A, PRP-37492), orange label; "Powmia" (Cecil Null), 3:13, Maple Music ASCAP; arranged by Cliff Parman, produced by Cecil Null; Sandy Bagley and The Wildwood Angels. The picture sleeve front shows two crosses lettered "POWMIA" and "Sandy Bagley and The Wildwood Angels" over silhouetted soldiers, with photographs of Sandy Bagley, her husband and her daughter kneeling in prayer, and the text: "Housewife, Sandy Bagley of Sumter, S.C. sings her own true story about her husband, Major Bobby Bagley who has been a prisoner of war for five years", adding that she and her daughter Little Vickey Ann keep a constant prayer that he and all prisoners of war and those missing in action will be back home. The back prints the full lyrics (chorus and three verses), "Words and Music by Cecil Null", © 1972 Maple Music, Inc.—ASCAP.…

About the artist

From Sumter, South Carolina, USA

Themes

P.O.W. · M.I.A. · Religion

In collections

US Domestic Perspective Songs [War Years] · P.O.W. / M.I.A. Songs