Gary L. Knepp
Several weeks ago I was looking through a box of my mother’s things. Sitting amidst the family photographs, jewelry and keepsakes was a silver-colored metal bracelet. As someone who had lived during the Vietnam War, I recognized it immediately as a POW/MIA bracelet.
The bracelets were designed by two California co-eds, Carol Brown and Kay Hunter, to give ordinary Americans a way to support the war without being political. The bracelets were inspired by the metal bands worn by our allies, the native hill people of Vietnam known as the Montagnards. The name, rank, service branch, and date of loss of each POW/MIA to be honored was stamped on the bracelet.
A pool of 3,500 eligible names was developed. After receiving permission from the families, 1,300 names were selected.
The bracelets were silver or copper in color. Each cost $2.50, the price of a ticket to a movie theater at the time.
Recognizing the enormity of the challenge, the co-founders decided to link up with the National League of POW/MIA Families to help with sales and distribution. Entertainers Bob Hope and Martha Raye volunteered to be honorary co-chairs. November 11, 1970, Veterans Day, was chosen as the rollout date.
The bracelets were an instant success, selling to ordinary Americans and to celebrities such as Johnny Cash, Richard Nixon, and Cher. At its height, as many as 12,000 bracelets were sold daily. From 1970 through 1973, approximately four million were purchased.
The name on my mother’s bracelet was Capt. Francis Setterquist, who was born in Cloquet, Minnesota on October 5, 1941. He graduated from the United States Airforce Academy in 1966. On August 23, 1968, Setterquist and his co-pilot were ordered to fly their F-4 Phantom jet from their base in Udorn, Thailand on a nighttime photo reconnaissance mission. All contact with Setterquist, code name “Semantic”, was lost at 8:30 p.m. at approximately fifty miles northwest of Dong Hoi, North Vietnam. The North Vietnamese reported shooting down a U.S. aircraft in the same area, but did not mention anything about the crew. Setterquist’s remains have never been recovered. He is listed as one of the 1587 Americans still listed as Missing in Action from the Vietnam War.
Finding the bracelet was a surprise. Neither my brother nor I recall her wearing it or talking about it. That’s not surprising considering my mother was, for the most part, a-political. Maybe she bought the bracelet, as millions of other Americans did, to show a quiet, non-confrontational way to support the warriors. She might have seen the bracelet as a way to honor the sacrifice of another mother. Or, perhaps she thought of the bracelet as a talisman to spare her sons who were coming of age during the war. Unfortunately, I’ll never know.