By Joyce Kryszak
Buffalo, NY – Americans are watching the Iraq war unfold with a certain degree of helplessness. News sources do little to connect us with the distant reality of U.S. soldiers lost, captured or missing in action.
It's a feeling many from the Vietnam War era remember all too well. But once again, a narrow band of metal, bearing a simple inscription, may give families and a nation hope.
Liz Flick is regional coordinator for the National League of POW/MIA families. She's organizing a new effort to distribute POW/MIA bracelets for Iraq War soldiers.
For those old enough to remember, the unadorned, nickel-plated or copper bracelets are a symbol of the Vietnam War. They were almost crude in design. And they were inscribed with nothing more than the soldier's name, rank and date of loss. But they were worn proudly, devotedly, by hundreds of thousands of Americans. And still are.
Liz Flick says the bracelets are more than symbolic. She says they are a bond -- an enduring promise of faith.
Click the "listen" icon above to hear Joyce Kryszak's interview with Ms. Flick.
For more information on obtaining a bracelet for a soldier from either the Vietnam or the Iraq war, click here.