DOVER — While a POW/MIA Chair of Honor exhibit was unveiled Thursday to coincide with Veterans Day, the search for the missing it’s dedicated to continues on.
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DOVER — While a POW/MIA Chair of Honor exhibit was unveiled Thursday to coincide with Veterans Day, the search for the missing it’s dedicated to continues on.
At the Air Mobility Command Museum, a tribute to prisoners of war and those missing in military action now comes via an unoccupied C-5M Super Galaxy pilot’s seat, symbolizing that there’s a spot awaiting them at the museum.
U.S. Air Force veteran Ralph Galati, who was imprisoned in Hanoi, Vietnam, for 14 months after his F-4 Phantom fighter-bomber was shot down in 1972, spoke on the significance of the new display during a dedication ceremony before an invitation-only audience of around 65 Thursday. The museum opened to the public later in the day.
More than 80,000 military personnel remain missing from World War II until now, and their families await an accounting of them, Mr. Galati said. He noted that the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency continues its mission to provide the fullest information possible about lost personnel from past conflicts.
Creating the exhibit was a collaboration between the museum and Rosely Robinson of the Delaware chapter of A Hero’s Welcome. It’s a venture she said took three to four years to come to fruition.
“This has been a dream of mine, and to have this pilot’s chair at this museum is most appropriate. It’s a great thing,” she said. “It turned out beautifully.”
Museum director John Taylor said that “the significance of that chair can now be explained, and the story can be told.”
“There were a lot of pilots shot down, missing in action,” Mr. Taylor said. “Now, we have a representation of those POW/MIAs, so that when the tour guides at the museum — most of which are veterans — volunteer here, take groups around, take kids around, take adults around, the significance of the chair can be explained.”
The museum, at 1301 Heritage Road in Dover, is open to the public Wednesdays through Sundays from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. The museum is closed all federal holidays except Veterans Day.
More information is available here or 302-677-5938.
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