By Chase Toy
Tri-c’s Eastern campus recently held a deeply moving ceremony to honor prisoners of war (POW) and missing in action (MIA) military victims. An empty “chair of honor” was placed in a prominent location of the campus to represent a space for the 83,000 military members who served our country and never came home.
The dedication ceremony was held on September 20th which is National POW/ MIA Recognition Day. It took place at the Simon and Rose Mandel Theatre. Tri-c partnered with a program called Rolling Thunder to place the chair. This program’s mission as stated on their website is “bringing daily reminders of the POW/MIA issue to cities and towns, big and small, across the nation”. Many of these chairs have been placed at various locations including sports stadiums, universities, city halls, and now at Cuyahoga Community College’s Eastern Campus.
The emotional ceremony began with the playing of “The Star Spangled Banner” and the presentation of colors done by the Cleveland Police Color Guard. The Eastern Campus president, Todd Kitchen and Tri-c alum Gwen Snorteland both said some words.
Todd Kitchen, campus president and U.S. Army Veteran, stated that “National POW/MIA Recognition Day honors all of our fellow Americans who were or may remain prisoners of war as well as those who never returned home. At its center is a very important message to all of these individuals: ‘You are not forgotten.”
The ceremony was concluded with the playing of “Taps” by JazzFest academy student Brian Axiotis.
