In 1972, I was living in Tampa, Florida. PJ, the dad of my older sons, was stationed at McDill AFB.  The Vietnam war was still ongoing;  a war that began in 1955, the first US combat troops were deployed on March 8, 1965 by President Johnson and US involvement ended in 1973. 

In 1970, two college students came up with the idea to remember American prisoners of war suffering in captivity. Through their California student group called Voices in Vital America they sold bracelets of plated nickel, or copper, each with a POW or MIA service member’s name stamped on it. 

The bracelets sold for $2.50 and $3.00 respectively and over 5 million were sold. The hope was to bring awareness to the POW’s in Vietnam, so that they would not be forgotten.  The promise of the purchaser was to wear the bracelet until the POW listed on it returned home or their remains were returned home. 

PJ bought mine on the base in 1972 –  Capt W. W. Hail.   At the time, the only thing I knew about him was that he was missing, presumed captured  August 2, 1965. 

In 1973 when the US ended its involvement in Vietnam. As American’s returned, the newspapers would publish the names. I would check the names but he was not listed. After a time, the news about Vietnam POW/MIA waned and news stories dwindled, but I continued to wear my bracelet. 

I wore it into the late 70’s when we lived in Anchorage, AK at Elmendorf AFB.  By this time the finish had rubbed off on the inside and it began to irritate my skin, so I lined it with white fabric canvas-like medical tape.  I wore my bracelet until early 1980 when it broke in half while putting it on. 

Over the years, there were many investigations and committees formed to ascertain whether there were still US servicemen in Southeast Asia in captivity. It would make the news for a while and then fade. 

In the late 90’s teams of US and Vietnam specialists would interview villagers at potential crash sites. Through these interviews with witnesses a crash site was located in July 1998 and human remains were recovered. They were later identified as Colonel Lester Holmes missing since May 1967. His remains were finally returned to his family in 2004. His son had a silver MIA bracelet with his dad’s name he placed in his coffin. 

It was around this time I decided to search the internet for information on Capt Hail. I found the website for the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fund ( www.vvmf.org) and I searched. There I found him, with all the details of his birth, his hometown, the location of his name on the wall and a picture of him. He was still listed as MIA and he had been promoted to Lt Colonel. I made a comment on his page on April 9, 2005 along with about 15 others before me, some of whom also wore his bracelet.

I brought my bracelet into work as there was a man here that did some soldering to see if he could fix it but he said because of the shape and the tension to take it on and off the weld would not hold. 

Fast forward to 2016. I received an email from a Dr. Thompson at the Palm Springs Air Museum in California. He had seen my comment on the VVMF site (along with many others) and was contacting people to see if they would be interested in donating their bracelet to the museum bracelet display. He said,”Palm Springs Air Museum is now accepting Vietnam POW/MIA Bracelets for the new General Ken Miles Vietnam Hangar. VIVA (Voices in Vital America) distributed some five million bracelets in the early 70s for people to wear to bring attention to the thousands of missing Americans in Vietnam. The Vietnam POW/MIA Bracelet Display consists of the following: Display Wall (8 feet by 24 feet) with 715 plaques honoring 715 POWs – Display Case displaying the MIA and POW bracelet donations . In addition to the 715 POWs, there were another 2646 MIAs. (We now have some 250 bracelets in our Display Case).”

I was immediately interested.  I wanted my bracelet, that I had held onto for some 44 years, to be permanently held in someplace special.  I went to my jewelry box to retrieve it and it was not there.  I searched for days, I checked with the guy I had asked to repair it, thinking I never got it back, not there. I searched my office…nothing.  One thing I knew for sure, I did not throw it away. 

I finally gave up, but over the next several years I would occasionally search for spots that I would hide special things.  Still nothing.  Then a few months ago, I was completing information for renewing my passport.  I opened a file that had old passports in it and there was my bracelet!

I wrote to Dr. Thompson and after apologizing for replying seven years later, I asked if they would still accept my bracelet even though it was broken.  He wrote, “Yes we do, Trish! Glad you found it – that prayer to St. Anthony must have helped. I have someone who repairs our bracelets as well. By the way – we now have over 2,000 bracelets in our collection.”

So today, 51 years after first putting it on, I taped together my POW bracelet and took a picture of it.  I placed it in a metal box and sent it to the Palm Springs Air Museum Bracelet Display.  There it will be repaired and put on display with a brief history of LTC William Warren Hail and information about the bracelet’s history.

I told Dr. Thompson thank you and I appreciate the fact my bracelet will be kept where it will be honored as it was too precious to just let it go elsewhere, or forbid that someone would toss it after I am long gone.

LTC William Warren Hail is still listed as MIA.