Some Gave All...

Vietnam POW bracelets were very popular when I was in middle school.  Being from a military family and having a father who served in Vietnam,  I had one that I wore, never taking it off.  I wore one bracelet until it broke and my dad was able to put it back together for me…when that finally broke again and was not fixable, I got a replacement bracelet.  I watched the released POWs step off the plane and run into the arms of their waiting families…all except the man on my bracelet. 

Maj. Kurt C. McDonald
 

I continued to wear my bracelet, hoping that one day he would come home.  I finally had to take the bracelet off when the edges became sharp, but I kept that bracelet, in a safe place…still hoping…

One day, while surfing the Internet, I searched for the man on my bracelet.  I was surprised to find information on him…but it wasn’t what I wanted to hear.  He was 30 years old when he went missing on 12/31/1964 when his plane went down after taking off from Da Nang, Vietnam.  In August of 1982, he was declared Killed in Action/Body Not Recovered by the US Government.  I also found photos of him online- photos of him growing up, photos of the handsome man he had become, photos of the Air Force pilot fighting for his country.  Putting a face with the name made the connection I had with the bracelet-with the man- even stronger.  I never knew this man, but he is never far from my thoughts and remains in my heart to this day.

I found that his name is engraved on the Vietnam War Memorial in Washington, DC but I have not yet been able to get a rubbing of his name from the wall.

I decided I would make a SMASH page about the man and the bracelet.  Here are those pages:

On the left side, there is an envelope that holds various pictures of Kurt, along with the picture of my bracelet, and a report from the USAF in regards to his MIA status.

Kurt would have been 89 years old this year.  Nearly 60 years have passed since he gave his all for his country, fighting for our freedoms.  Please take the time to say a prayer for those lost in battle, as well as those soldiers still fighting for those same freedoms.