Dave Bakke: POW bracelet still meaningful (Leland Hildebrand)

Donna Bowers was a teenager in the early 1970s, when she received her POW bracelet. The name on the bracelet was Col. Leland Hildebrand. There was a date with the name: 12/18/71.

Those bracelets were worn in honor of American soldiers missing or taken prisoner in the Vietnam War. That’s something we won’t have when the war in Afghanistan is over, not on that scale. There were thousands of them then, and Hildebrand was one.

“I really don’t remember how I got it,” Donna says. “The best I can figure out, it was from my grandmother. She was still a member of D

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Other Publications You Might Be Interested In

Navy Pilot Chronicles his POW Experiences (Jack Ensch)

August 25, 1972 dawned hot and muggy in Vietnam. Pilots of Fighter Squadron 161, stationed aboard USS Midway (CV 41), readied their aircraft and went over the day’s flight plan. Their mission was an early evening MiG combat air patrol over North Vietnam. Lt. John “Jack” Ensch would serve as

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Behind Barbed Wire: A POW’s Story (Edward Leonard)

I arrived at Udorn RTAFB in early May, 1967, to fly A-1E and A1-H Skyraider with the 602nd Fighter Squadron (Commando). I was to fly 247 combat missions during three consecutive tours and participated in the rescue of 18 aircrew members. On May 31, 1968, going for number 19, I

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POW/MIA Day events honor missing military members (Dale Raebel)

Jacksonville will remember missing military members Friday and Saturday at events marking National POW/MIA Recognition Day. An open house is scheduled Friday at Jacksonville’s National POW/MIA Memorial at Cecil Airport on the city’s Westside. Speakers on Saturday will include Meghan Wagner, daughter of Navy Capt. Scott Speicher, a Cecil-based aviator who became the

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