According to TimeandDate.com, there are nearly 2,000 veterans from the Vietnam War alone still listed as missing or unaccounted for. The U.S. Defense Department created POW/MIA Recognition Day on July 18, 1979, as a way to honor these missing heroes and servicemembers unaccounted for from other wars. Sept. 18 marked the 36th annual POW/MIA Recognition Day, and cities across the nation acknowledged the event in their own ways.
The Knoxville Chapter of the Vietnam Veterans of America in Knoxville, Tennessee, held a prayer service. They also invited veterans and the families of servicemembers to a meal. Local8Now.com reported that the meal was served at a round table with one empty seat with an upside down glass in its place setting. This glass was meant to symbolize the inability of POWs and MIA servicemembers to toast with their families.
"They haven't come home yet. Those are the [families] that don't have closure yet. They're still wondering, 'Are they alive? Are they held captive some place? Where are they,'" William Koprince, an event coordinator, told Local8Now.com.
However, the Knoxville gathering gave POW/MIA families a chance to support one another and receive words of kindness from other servicemembers.