HONOR & SACRIFICE
Crowd gathers for unveiling of POW/ MIA National Chair of Honor
An empty chair now stands inside Merck Sharp & Dohme Federal Credit Union as a silent yet powerful reminder of the tens of thousands of POW/ MIA military service members.
A plaque and black-andwhite POW/MIA National Chair of Honor were unveiled at the credit union Wednesday afternoon in front of a crowd that included military veterans, community residents and Merck Sharp & Dohme staff, board and committee members.
Rolling Thunder Marine Corps Vietnam veteran Patrick J. Hughes was among those in attendance, and Merck Sharp & Dohme CEO Dave Whitehead noted that Hughes has been “instrumental” in installing more than 60 POW/MIA chairs around the region.
In his remarks to the crowd, Whitehead noted that he was too young to serve during the Vietnam War, but his sister had friends who did and “some made it home; some didn’t.” He is friendly with Hughes, and when he saw Hughes’s social media posts about the POW/MIA Chair of Honor, Whitehead thought, “We have to do that,” he said.
The chair “reminds us of those
who have served ... and what they have sacrificed,” Lansdale Mayor Andy Szekely told the assembled crowd.
Hughes shared a quote from Marine Michael DePaulo that America’s military service members are “purchasers of peace, and every veteran has earned the right — the absolute right — to come home.”
The chair will eventually be sent to and displayed at other Merck Sharp & Dohme branches, including Harleysville, Collegeville, West Point and Chalfont.