Roommates, Memorial Day is an important, sensitive, and touchy day for some, seeing as how it means more than cookouts and a three-day weekend for those who have lost a loved one. A Tennessee-based Chick-Fil-A took the initiative to show their support to those fallen soldiers and their families over the Memorial Day Weekend.
According to WJHL, the Johnson City branch installed the ‘Missing Man Table,’ which was reserved to honor those missing comrades in arms. The table contained a combination of items which are said to represent those fallen soldiers. According to the POW-MIA Families website, “The single red rose reminds us of the lives of these Americans….and their loved ones and friends who keep the faith, while seeking answers.”
The display went up Friday and was there until this morning (Tuesday, May 28). We hear this isn’t the first or even second year this Chick-Fil-A branch has observed the holiday this way! This is reportedly the fourth year of setting up the area in remembrance.
Although Chick-Fil-As nationwide didn’t participate in the remembrance gesture, other branches participated as well. Here is a breakdown of what each item symbolized:
- The table is round: To show our everlasting concern.
- The cloth is white: Symbolizing the purity of their motives when answering the call to serve.
- The single red rose: Reminds us of the lives of these Americans and their loved ones and friends who keep the faith, while seeking answers.
- The yellow ribbon: Symbolizes our continued uncertainty, hope for their return and determination to account for them.
- A slice of lemon: Reminds us of their bitter fate, captured or missing in a foreign land.
- A pinch of salt: Symbolizes the tears of our missing and their families.
- The lighted candle: Reflects our hope for their return.
- The Bible: Represents the strength gained through faith to sustain us and those lost from our country, founded as one nation under God.
- The glass is inverted: To symbolize their inability to share a toast.
- The chairs are empty: They are missing.
Our thoughts and prayers are with the families of those who lost a loved one.
TSR STAFF: Chantel Kelli! @_popchanny!
Source: WJHL, https://www.wjhl.com/local/local-chick-fil-a-sets-up-missing-man-table-for-memorial-day/2031925616
