The Missing Man Table, also known as the Fallen Comrade Table, was presented during a Veterans Day assembly at Riverside Schools on Friday.
PHOTO | BRIDGETTE HELMLINGER
Denny Brown, above. led the ceremonial resemblance in honor of his fallen comrade who did not return after a mission March 6, The fallen comrade’s widow, who lives in Colorado, watches the Riverside ceremony via online streaming each year to honor her husband’s memory.
The table serves as the focal point of ceremonial remembrance, originally growing out of U.S. concern of the Vietnam War POW/MIA issue. The table is set for one and is small, symbolizing the frailty of one isolated prisoner, with a white tablecloth, symbolic of the purity of the personnel’s intentions to respond to their country’s call to arms. The single red rose in the vase signifies the blood that many have shed in sacrifice to ensure the freedom of the United States of America.
The slice of lemon on the bread plate represents the bitter fate of the missing, and the salt sprinkled on the bread plate symbolizes of the fallen tears of families as they wait.
The inverted glass represents the fact that the missing and fallen cannot partake, and the lighted candle is reminiscent of the light of hope that lives in the hearts of citizens to illuminate the way home.