America's White Table by Margot Theis Raven, Mike Benny Read Free Book Online Page B

care of their own and having reunions once the war ended and the POWs came home, but initially held practice “reunions” while still in Southeast Asia and America. It was at the first practice “reunion,” that the MIA/POW table was set in remembrance of fallen and missing comrades. (The Red River Valley Fighter Pilots Association is still in active existence today, providing scholarship money to children of airmen killed during training or missing and killed in action in America’s conflicts.)
    Following the Vietnam War, the tradition of the Remembrance Table then made its way into all military dining-in/dining out ceremonies (dinners where members of a command, unit, or other organization gather, including with spouses and guests).
    At the ceremonies, a series of toasts are made before being seated to eat, with the last toast, “to remember until they come home,” reserved for (and always made with water) their comrades of the MIA/POW table.
    Sometimes the items on the table vary from ceremony to ceremony; for example, uniform hats from all the service branches can be placed around the table. Sometimes the exact symbolic meaning of the items differ slightly, too, but generally the words that Mama told Katie, Samantha, and Gretchen are standard, giving touching tribute to our finest and bravest countrymen—those who wait, and hope and believe in the dream of freedom with every breath they take on foreign soil, and whose spirits live beyond the chains of their prisons.
    In this book we salute these bravest of our brave with the POW flag motto:
    YOU ARE NOT FORGOTTEN
SO LONG AS THERE IS ONE LEFT IN WHOM YOUR MEMORY REMAINS.
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    To honor those who have served in our country’s armed forces, America observes two national holidays:
    Memorial Day: Observed on the last Monday in May in honor of veterans no longer living.
Veterans Day: Always observed on November 11 in honor of all veterans, but particularly those still living.
    Although not an official national holiday, by presidential proclamation our country has observed National MIA/POW Recognition Day since 1979. That day is held on the third Friday in September to honor the sacrifice of America’s POWs and MIAs and their families, and to address the fate of troops still unaccounted for in conflict since the First World War.