Re: The Bracelet

Date: May 22, 2004

"Not forgotten: Woman continues to wear MIA bracelet bought in 1970

By MARY McINTYRE Special to the Journal Sentinel

Wind Lake - Kay Michalski has never met Capt. John Scott Albright II. She has never written him a letter, talked to him on the phone or even heard his voice. And yet, she has worn a bracelet with his name on it since 1970.

Michalski bought her $3 bracelet at Southridge Mall in Greendale, with Albright's name on it, in hopes that the Air Force officer, missing in action since his plane went down in Laos in 1968, would be remembered until he was found.

"You do not remove the bracelet unless the body is on U.S. soil," Michalski said.

Michalski does not think Albright, who was born in Huntington, W.Va., is still alive.

She says there were spottings of American soldiers surviving the crash of the C-123K plane he was in but doubts that Albright, born Nov. 7, 1945, was among them.

But with Memorial Day a little over a week away, she thinks her bracelet is a fitting memorial for Albright.

In 1974, Michalski, whose own father was a Marine in World War II, received a thank-you letter from Albright's father, John Scott Albright I.

The elder Albright at that time had hopes that his son would be found. He was also in charge of a POW/MIA action group.

"He is a very thoughtful, kind young man with a great sense of humor," Albright wrote. "He loves the Air Force and plans to make it a career.

"We are so grateful for your kind letters," he said. "We know that Scotty would be proud that so many people are concerned and are wearing a bracelet."

Thousands of such bracelets were produced from an effort started by college student Carol Bates Brown in 1970. Nickel-plated bracelets cost 75 cents to make and sold for $2.50. Adult copper bracelets were sold for $3, according to the POW network Web site.

The profit was used for POW/MIA bumper stickers, buttons and newspaper ads to raise awareness of the problem.

Michalski said that despite anyone's belief on the war, "they shouldn't blame the soldiers."

She also said our country should keep searching.

"They left men behind," Michalski said. "Some were never found, so the U.S. should keep looking for them."

On May 17, 1979, Albright was listed as a casualty who died in Laos.

His name has been put on the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington, D.C., according to a Web site dedicated to him.

Michalski plans to keep wearing her bracelet. Other than for a surgery at a hospital, she has never removed it.

She does not wear it as a political statement but out of concern, she said. Every year she honors her father by making a large picture of him and putting it in the window of her 1949 Mercury, which she and her husband, Joe, drive in the Rochester Memorial Day Parade.

The circumstances of Albright's disappearance remain a mystery.

On a POW network Web site, the story is told that his plane went down with 1st Lt. Joseph P. Fanning, 1st Lt. Morgan J. Donahue, Staff Sgt. Samuel F. Walker, Staff Sgt. Douglas V. Dailey and Tech Sgt. Fred L. Clarke.

They were part of the 606th Special Operations Squadron in Nakhon Phanom, Thailand.

The Web site (www.pownetwork.org) compiles information from U.S. government raw data, correspondence with families, published sources and interviews.

The description of the Dec. 13, 1968, crash follows:

"The plane did not fall straight to the ground, but drifted lazily to the ground in a flat spin which lasted several minutes. When the pilot regained consciousness, he noted that the co-pilot (Fanning) and navigator (Donahue) were gone. Donahue's station was in the underbelly of the plane where, lying on his stomach, he directed an infrared detection device through an open hatch. The pilot parachuted out, landed in a treetop where he remained until rescued at dawn. On the way down, he saw another chute below him, but, because of the dark, was unable to determine who the crew member was."

©Milwaukee Journal Sentinel"