When the prisoner of war flag flying at the Plainfield post office was desecrated last week, Robert Dumas took it personally.

The 81-year-old Canterbury man has been trying to get the U.S. government to negotiate the release of his younger brother, Roger, who was captured in North Korea on Nov. 4, 1950, during a battle near the Manchurian border. The government, Dumas said, does not acknowledge that there are POWs still alive in North Korea, but he said he has received information over the years that indicates Roger Dumas, who would be 78, remains captive.

On Saturday morning, when Dumas went to the Route 12 post office to mail a letter, he said the the postmaster told him the POW flag had been desecrated and run back up the pole.

"I said, 'Our flag? You're kidding,'" Dumas said Saturday evening. "I've never heard of this anywhere."

The postmaster gave him the flag, which had been shredded with a knife. The vandals had cut out the word "not" from the phrase, "You are not forgotten," Dumas said.

The postmaster reported the incident to Plainfield police. Dumas also called the Federal Bureau of Investigation's New Haven office to report the incident.

"I don't like this," said Dumas, who also served in North Korea. "I don't think any veteran or ex-POW would like what was done to this flag. You wouldn't desecrate an American flag. You shouldn't do the same thing to a POW flag."

If the vandals were trying to send the government a message that it is not doing enough to bring back any remaining prisoners of war, they are doing it the wrong way, Dumas said.

Plainfield police Sgt. Gerry Geyer said the incident was reported on Wednesday and appeared to have taken place overnight. He said the department is investigating but has no viable leads. He urged anyone with information to call the department at (860) 564-0804 or leave a message on the anonymous tip line at (860) 564-7065.

Plainfield is a patriotic town, Geyer said, and an incident like this, "can be a smack in the face to family members who don't know what happened to their loved ones."

Dumas has been working on the POW issue most of his life. Roger Dumas, the youngest of four brothers who served in Korea, was known to have been held prisoner until August 1953. Dumas has been told that on the day other prisoners were loaded on a truck to be repatriated, his captors led Dumas off in another direction.

He has taken his quest to Congress, the White House and U.S. District Court. He has met with ambassadors from North Korea and has been featured in news stories about the POW issue. His nephew, film producer/director Bill Dumas, told the story of the Dumas brothers in "Missing, Presumed Dead," an award-winning film that was aired to members of Congress.

Lately, Dumas said he has received encouragement from the office of Indiana Sen. Richard G. Lugar, a ranking member of the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations. Lugar has been encouraging the release of prisoner of war information from North Korea, and recently wrote to President Obama to urge him to negotiate with North Korea, Dumas said. Dumas sent Lugar copies of documents he has amassed and has been in touch with an aide in the senator's office.

Dumas said he was contacted four years ago by an American businessman who was able to travel freely in North Korea in June 2007 because he held a dual passport from Iraq. The man, who had emigrated to the U.S. when he was 9, was able to talk to prisoners of war who were living in longhouses near a mining camp, Dumas said. The man said he met a shirtless old man who told him his name was Roger Dumas and he was from a little town in Connecticut called "Plain Field." The businessman provided the information to the Pentagon, but nothing came of it, Dumas said.

Meanwhile, back in Plainfield, Dumas said the postmaster assured him that a new POW flag was on order. Dumas said he would tell his military son, Sgt. 1st Class Jason Dumas, 39, about the incident in an email.

k.florin@theday.com