We all wore one, a spring steel bracelet bearing the name of a
Young soldier, a prisoner of war, or missing in action in a foreign land
I prayed every morning and every night for this faceless man,
In my mind he was handsome and brave, with a shy smile and sad eyes.
He just wanted to be fishing in a pond, drinking a beer, flirting
With his best girl, watching the Cowboys play on a Sunday afternoon.
Instead, he was stuck in a prison, and my teenaged mind could not,
Would not contemplate what conditions he might be living under.
I worried over that bracelet, twisting it this way and another until one
Day it snapped, and I lost one half. I never discovered what happened to
The man whose name I wore. All that remains are the letters CDR Q,
On half a bracelet, and try as I might I cannot recall his whole name.
Praying for Eyebrowz 
I recall those bracelets as well. My mom wore one. I should ask if she still has it …
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Definitely ask her. I sure wish I’d taken better care of mine!
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I was in Vietnam and returned, one of the fortunate ones. I also wore a bracelet for a period of time. I have a vague memory of the organization behind them and it seems to be somewhat unsettling. I knew no one who was captured but certainly like others have friends whose names are on the wall in Washington,DC. Those were terrible and tragic times for many. In my mind places like Iraq, Afghanistan, Syria strike me as worse. These soldiers today are not drawn from every family so the pain is not as close. I try to think about them and hope we can stop the never ending pain for those who suffer today.
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Phil, thank you for your service.
I’ve been to the Wall in D.C. along with friends, and we found the names of several people they’d known. I was telling my husband that at my house we watched footage of the Vietnam war every night in my house. It was unsettling and immediate and we were all invested in those young men. Now, we seem insulated from what’s going on in Afghanistan. I’ll bet there are youngsters who don’t even know we’re fighting on multiple fronts.
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Powerful stuff Leslie.
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I need to do something with that bracelet fragment before it gets tossed accidentally. Maybe one of my grandkids will take care of it.
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You never know xxx
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No. That’s the truth.
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I am still hoping my own children will take on the story of how one day their grandfather who disarmed bombs for a living, took three sweating hours to take a Korean paddy field to bits so the family who had sat starving at the side of the road for days praying for a miracle might be able to eat that winter. I’m a soldier’s daughter Leslie, I am also one who has come to understand different kinds of conflicts x
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That is when it comes to families xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
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Oh wow! No words.
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