NATCHEZ — A black flag with one lone silhouette representing thousands of captured and missing soldiers now flies above the Adams County Courthouse.

And some veterans say it’s about time.

The sight of the POW-MIA flag flying above the courthouse is an image former World War II Army Air Force Bomber Pilot Bob Mims said he’s wanted to see for a long time.

“We’ve needed it for so long,” he said.

The POW-MIA flag, donated by Oscar Seyfarth and his brother Eddie Seyfarth — both Vietnam War veterans with extensive military careers — was presented to the county Tuesday by an honor guard with Adams County POWs witnessing the presentation of the flag.

“That flag represents those who have never been accounted for,” Oscar Seyfarth said. “Those who are still being held are paying a more agonizing price every minute of their lives, and we need to bring them home.”

Supervisor Henry Watts said he was honored to take part in honoring the men of Adams County who didn’t get to return home as quickly as expected, or at all.

“Thank you for the sacrifice and personal pain you gave this country so we can stand here,” Watts told the veterans present.

Listed in the ceremony’s program were names of 14 other POWs and service men who are missing in action.

Mims was captured in 1944 by German soldiers and held captive for 16 months.

Mims said his time spent as a POW was full of thoughts of home and worry about his family.

“It was eight months (after my capture) until my family knew I was a POW,” Mims said.

Mims said while on a mission over France, he was shot down by Nazis and taken to Barth, Germany.

“We were not mistreated unless we misbehaved. The entire time I was there, we were under rationed. Our food consisted of 700 calories a day,” Mims said.

After the German Army was overrun by Russian forces, Mims said he and the 9,000 other POWs he was imprisoned with waited for their ticket home with the Canadian First Airborne.

Mayor Jake Middleton said the opportunities afforded to Americans today have been made available because veterans such as Mims, Anding and Druetta who have served the country well.

“If it weren’t for these people, we wouldn’t be here today to have this ceremony,” Middleton said.