Empty Chair at City Hall Remembers POWs and MIA Soldiers

The city of Somerville Friday dedicated a POW-MIA chair in City Hall.

Somerville is the 43rd city or town in Massachusetts do dedicate such a chair, and there are similar chairs in Gillette Statium, Fenway Park and TD Garden, according to Joseph D’Entremont from Operation Rolling Thunder, the group that organizes POW-MIA chairs.

The empty chair serves to remind people of the 83,000 American service members who are still unaccounted for—missing in action—since World War II, along with the 142,000 who have been prisoners of war.

Somerville Mayor Joseph Curtatone, State Rep. Denise Provost, Board of Alderman President William White, Ward 5 Alderman Courtney O'Keefe and Jay Weaver, Somerville's director of veterans services, all spoke at the dedication ceremony.

Learn more about the chair here.

Also at Friday's ceremony was Peter Fantasia, 97, who was considered missing in action and was held as a prisoner of war during World War II. Fantasia, a medic, was captured in Rodalbe, France, after his unit retreated from a heavy German counterattack on the town. Fantasia refused to retreat, instead staying behind to administer aid to injured colleagues. The choice to stay behind led to his capture. He received the Silver Star—the second highest honor bestowed by the military—for his actions.

A veterans square is named for Fantasia near his Boston Street home, where he's lived since before entering the army in 1941.

Read more about Fantasia here.