On Veterans Day, 11 November of any given year, I always have more than one opportunity to perform my one-hour trumpet show, “I Stand for the Flag,” at various retirement communities, partly because I’m a Vietnam veteran and I wear my Honor Guard uniform as VFW Post 1040 Bugler. But it’s first come, first served, and last year, Mountlake Terrace Plaza (MTP) booked me first. I played 24 patriotic marches, songs, and bugle calls before a large audience in the dining room in the afternoon. I used five horns—trumpet, cornet, flugelhorn, pocket trumpet, and bugle.

It was my third appearance at MTP. In August 2021, I performed my show, “Showtune Favorites,” and in July this past summer, I performed “In Retrospect.” You can easily read my blog articles about these two appearances by searching “Mountlake Terrace Plaza” in the box at the upper right of this page.

For me, it was unique to see that Anne Paine, Director of Wellness Programming, had displayed a “Missing Person Table” at the entrance to the dining room. As of this performance, I had performed six different one-hour shows at 36 retirement communities in the Greater Seattle area, and I’ve never seen that Table set anywhere else. Most other activity directors probably have never heard of it. And I have also seen it set when I sounded “To the Color” and “Taps” at several ceremonies at Edmonds Community College.

According to the National League of POW/MIA Families, the “Missing Man Honors Table” carries the message that American Prisoners of War and Missing in Action from the Vietnam War shall never be forgotten. The table, its empty chair(s), and its contents are all symbolic, and a proper candlelight service can be conducted. At the table at MTP, there were two empty chairs and place settings, a white tablecloth, three American flags, the New Testament and Psalms, a red rose, a burning candle, and a flyer that explains the symbolisms. For more information, please see https://www.pow-miafamilies.org/the-missing-man-table.

According to the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency, “At present, less than 81,000 Americans remain missing from WWII, the Korean War, the Vietnam War, the Cold War, and the Gulf Wars/other conflicts. Out of the less than 81,000 missing, 75% of the losses are located in the Indo-Pacific, and over 41,000 of the missing are presumed lost at sea (i.e. ship losses, known aircraft water losses, etc.).” At present, the number from the Vietnam War is 1,566. For more information on the government’s efforts to identify the missing, please see https://www.dpaa.mil.

The photos below are courtesy of Mountlake Terrace Plaza. Please click on any photo to enlarge it.