News-Info-Alerts

To: ALL

From: Andi Wolos & Bob Necci

(POW-MIA InterNetwork)

Re: Mercy Bands BEcome POW-MIA Bracelet of 2001

Date: December 31, 2001

"Names of Sept. 11 on 'Mercy Bands'
By Angela Turner Associated Press Writer

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. –– Toshiya Kuge's name in silver brings Carol Shamburger to her knees.

"When I touch it, I instantly remember to pray," she said of the silver band on her arm.

Shamburger, of Albuquerque, is one of 20,000 people across the country who wears a "mercy band" bearing the name of a victim of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. Kuge, a Japanese college student, died aboard United Airlines Flight 93, the hijacked plane that crashed in Pennsylvania.

There have been many tributes – in songs, memorials, even Christmas ornaments – to those who died aboard the four hijacked jetliners and in the Pentagon and World Trade Center.

The idea for the mercy bands came to Lenya Heitzig of Albuquerque as she remembered a similar tribute to missing or imprisoned soldiers during the Vietnam War. During the 1970s, millions of metal wristbands were engraved with a soldier's name and birthday and distributed.

Heitzig, who is married to the pastor of Calvary Chapel, Albuquerque's largest church, toyed with the idea of commemorative bands for about a month. She spoke with a church member who makes jewelry, and he put her in touch with a silver supplier, also in the congregation.

Her original plan was to make one band for every victim who perished. At the time, the death toll was believed to be as high 6,000. A member of the Billy Graham Association, a religious organization, told her not to stop at 6,000, but to make at least 60,000.

"We love them, we all wear them, and I know friends and family who have since ordered some for themselves," said Kathy Maher, who lost her husband, Dan Maher of Hamilton, N.J., in the World Trade Center attacks.

She learned about the bands from a woman who was wearing one with the name of an employee of Marsh & McLennan Cos. Inc., the company Dan Maher had worked for. The firm lost 295 people in the attacks.

"My husband always had one (band) from the Vietnam War for MIAs and POWs," Kathy Maher said. Of the mercy bands, she said, "all I can say is we always have them on."

The bands cost $20 – $25 if a specific name is requested. Victims families are given the bands at no cost, and any money left after production and shipping will go to help them, Heitzig said.

Heitzig, 45, said some victims' family members have told her they are grateful that others remember their loved ones. The band she wears carries the name of Alfred Marchand, a New Mexico resident killed in the attacks.

Shamburger, 49, said she has tried to learn all she can about Kuge. She knows he was 20 – the same age as her daughter – and that he had traveled to Canada on a canoeing trip. She said she thinks about her own daughter when she prays for Kuge's family.

Pamela Schiele, 41, of Long Valley, N.J., received bands for herself, her mother and her aunt. They bear the name Jennifer Tino, Schiele's 29-year-old sister, who was an accountant for Marsh & McLennan.

"I look at this bracelet and I feel like I'm connected to her," Schiele said. "It's like having a part of her with me. I don't ever want to forget about her.""