“It is a constant reminder,” James Warren said Monday morning at the unveiling of the new Prisoner of War/Missing in Action commemorative honor chair at the John J. Pershing Veteran’s Affairs Medical Center.
The interim director said 38,000 POW/MIA, living or dead, may still be recoverable.
“These are not just numbers. They were brothers and sisters,” Warren asserted.
The chair, sitting beside the main entrance, serves as a symbol of remembrance for those who never made it home. It echoes the tradition in military mess halls of setting a table for those missing in action or still in enemy hands.
Eleven individuals served on the committee to make this memorial a reality. Michael Miller, a VA patient advocate, called fellow members Lacey Baker, Paul Davis, Tonda Johnson, Stephen Keene, Carrie Schimweg, Michelle Shulaw, Jeffrey Speer, James Warren, and Matthew Wood up to the podium to be recognized for their efforts.
Dennis Gebelhardt, an Air Force veteran, provided the labor to build the memorial alcove.
“We must never forget the 83,114 who fought in the wars and are still missing,” Warren emphasized, “This honor chair is to remind us that no one is forgotten. Let us honor them not just with our words but with our actions.”
Program coordinator Scott Readnour of the Jefferson Barracks POW/MIA Museum presented a resolution to Warren and Miller designating the Pershing VA hospital as a POW/MIA campus. Readnour noted the medical center is the first medical facility to receive this designation.
“As humans, we have a really good ability to forget. We must never forget,” he added, “I love this because it will remind us of the sacrifice that has been done. We don’t need to go a day without remembering.”
Carrie Schimweg, a public affairs specialist for the VA, shared the story of her father, Arthur Sanderson. Sanderson was a survivor of the Bataan Death March in April 1942. He went on to endure extreme privation in a Japanese prison camp.
“Even though he went through that, he was a great dad,” his daughter recalled. “He made sure we knew what it meant to be an American.”
Schimweg added the chair helps memorialize those of her father’s comrades who died.
“We owe a big debt of gratitude,” she concluded.
Miller thanked the committee for their hard work and the previous director Paul Hopkins for originally greenlighting the project. “You all have my deepest thanks and respect,” Miller affirmed.