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Re: The Bracelet

From: POW-MIA InterNetwork

Date: May 28, 2003

"MIA Bracelet Linked to Kansas
By Delaina Renfro

You don’t see them very much anymore, but they’ve been around for more than 30 years. Made of thin copper, they are light in weight but sturdy. It’s a simple bracelet, not for fashion, but for honor. Engraved with the names of thousands of POW’s and MIA’s from Vietnam, strangers buy them to honor those lost but not forgotten.

A Wichita man’s duty to honor a Vietnam veteran missing in action is finally over. Ken Brubaker wore a POW MIA bracelet for five years to honor Lt. Denis Anderson, whose remains will be coming home to rest next month. It’s a story about two men’s lives linked by a bracelet.

In 1992, Ken Brubaker attended a Vietnam Veteran’s reunion. That’s where he decided he wanted to get a bracelet, a special bracelet.

"It had to be someone from Kansas and it had to be a naval aviator because I enjoy flying." Of all the names, all the lost soldiers, Ken got the name of Lt. Denis Anderson, a fellow Kansan who grew up in Hope.

"It was just amazing somebody nearby where he was raised has the bracelet."
Ken felt an indescribable bond between him and Lt. Anderson while wearing the bracelet.

"It was a very unique feeling. It was like we were kind of tied together somehow. I couldn't really explain why."

Ken says he wore the bracelet everyday until it eventually wore out. He stopped wearing it, afraid he would lose it. He often wondered about Lt. Anderson's family and the pain they must be experiencing not knowing if Lt. Anderson would ever return home. He was killed in Laos, when his plane crashed into a mountain covered in clouds. The area was incredibly difficult to access and search crews didn’t know whether it was even possible to recover the bodies of the nine men aboard. Three decades after that crash, Lt. Anderson’s remains were found.

"I was so glad to hear that they had recovered it because I didn't figure they ever would because of where he'd crashed. So I think it's great you know, for all of his family to be able to recover the remains of him and his crew."

Ken says wearing the bracelet was a way of carrying Lt. Anderson’s spirit, all the way home.

"Everybody would like to have their people come home and it didn't look very bright at the time for that but it turned out better than I thought."

Ken hopes to meet Lt. Anderson’s widow, Sue Jenkins, and personally return the bracelet to her. Lt. Anderson will be interred at Arlington National Cemetery on June 18th.

You can still buy the bracelets at army surplus stores like GI Rose on East Harry.


© 2003 Media General
Ensign/Dodge City, Kansas"