Posted on by Renee L. Beck

Did you sport a Vietnam War POW bracelet in the 70s?

POW bracelet

I learned about the most fascinating trend the other day: POW bracelets of the Vietnam War. My aunt called to see if I could help her find a prisoner of war (POW) from the Vietnam War, and I just had to know why. (How often do you get a call like that?) She explained that in the 70s, it was a “thing” to wear a bracelet with the name of a POW. She had one with Capt. James Warner and wanted my help in finding him. (I’m pretty stellar with my Google skills.)

I was able to find some info on Capt. Warner to send to her, and in my searching, learned more about these bracelets. They were the brainchild of Carol Bates, who was part of a group, Voices in Vital America, to remind everyone of the POWs overseas. They were about $2.50-$3 and about five million were manufactured. Each bracelet was engraved with a soldier’s name and his date of capture.  VIVA closed in ’76; according to Bates, “By then the American public was tired of hearing about Vietnam and showed no interest in the POW/MIA issue.”

POW

(Everyone from Nixon to Johnny Cash to Sonny & Cher wore the POW bracelets in the 70s.)

If you happen to own one of these bracelets and want to send it to the soldier, contact:

Defense POW/Missing Persons Office
ATTN: Public Affairs
2400 Defense, Pentagon
Washington, DC 20301 – 2400

Want to know what happened to the solider on your bracelet? Check out the POW Network and do a search.

This Veterans’ Day, take a moment to think about each of the POWs who had his name engraved on a bracelet and thank those who have/are serving our country. Did you have a POW bracelet? Have you ever tried to contact “your” soldier?

76 Replies to “Did you sport a Vietnam War POW bracelet in the 70s?”

  1. I remember them vividly, and they were not $2.50. You left off a zero. The whole package was $25.00. They gave you a bracelet and some literature on it. I wanted one and didn’t have the money and asked my parents, and they said no because it was too expensive and it was a scam. I don’t know where you aunt got one and who sold it to her, but in NJ they were all $25.00.

    Reply

    1. New to this blog but had to comment. I do see your post is quite old. There must have been many sources for the bracelets. When I was 8 years old my dad was stationed in Annapolis. We went to a USO fund raiser on base where they had the POW bracelets for sale. My mother bought one for me and one for my brother and they were only a couple dollars. I don’t remember any literature that came with the bracelet. We did search the list of newly released soldiers in the newspaper at the bus stop each week to see if the name on our bracelet was there. The idea was to wear it until your soldier was no longer a prisoner.

      Reply

      1. I grew up in New Jersey and had one. I was in Junior High at the time. I only paid $3.00 for it, not $25.00, which, during the day, would have been quite a sum of money.

      2. Hey! A note from another reader:
        I’m an historian of children and childhood working on a book about the Vietnam War in the lives of American children and am currently focusing my research on POW/MIA bracelets. I would be very interested in visiting with some of you about wearing your POW/MIA bracelets as kids in the Vietnam era. (I’ve worn mine since the early 1970s)
        Thank you.
        Joel

        Joel P. Rhodes, Ph.D.
        Professor
        Department of History
        Southeast Missouri State University
        jrhodes@semo.edu
        573-651-2715

      3. Hey! A note from another reader:
        I’m an historian of children and childhood working on a book about the Vietnam War in the lives of American children and am currently focusing my research on POW/MIA bracelets. I would be very interested in visiting with some of you about wearing your POW/MIA bracelets as kids in the Vietnam era. (I’ve worn mine since the early 1970s)
        Thank you.
        Joel

        Joel P. Rhodes, Ph.D.
        Professor
        Department of History
        Southeast Missouri State University
        jrhodes@semo.edu
        573-651-2715

    2. I had 2 bracelets (William Metzger and CDR Edward Martin). I had a boyfriend in the Navy who got the bracelets on base in Colorado. They were less than $5. Maybe he got them at a reduced price because he was in the military?

      Reply

      2. I also had Edward Martins POW bracelet. I contacted him when he was released in 1973… He sent me an autographed picture of himself…He has passed on now.

    3. I had one and there is no way I could have paid $25. I think I ordered in the back of a magazine for under $5.

      Reply

  2. I was at an event last night and actually heard Capt. James Warner talk. It was a very inspiring talk. I just wished they would have provided him more time to speak.

    I am wondering if the author of this article was ever able to contact James Warner to give him the bracelet his grandmother wore… if not, I might be able to help in making that a reality.

    Reply

    1. Hi Ron,
      Do you know if the author ever found
      Captain James Warner?
      I can’t see a reply to your question.

      I came across this blog by accident and Captain Warner is my Uncle Jimmy!
      I still have my bracelet 40+ years later.

      Reply

      2. Hi Renee,
        Are you able to see my email address? If so, please email me privately.

        Thanks

      4. I have his bracelet also! Has he had lots come back to him? Does he want another one?

  3. I proudly wore mine for a long time. I recently found it again. It brought back a lot of memories. I never found out what happened to my soldier, and felt that I didn’t have closure. Maybe now I can. Thank you for the information.

    Reply

  4. I know that I wore a bracelet for a very long time… unfortunately I no longer have the bracelet. Was wondering if there was some sort of records kept… I don’t even remember how I got the bracelet… Was this something that we “applied” for… if so are there any records still around…?? I wonder where a person would even start to look??? Thanks

    Reply

  5. Can u still purchase a bracelet my brother died in Vietnam i would like to have one in respect for my brother

    Reply

    2. Margaret, Your question prompted me to look on eBay. There are a lot of POW bracelets for sale on there. The prices vary wildly. I can’t imagine ever selling mine but who knows where the sellers got them.

      Reply

    3. Margaret,

      I have 2 POW bracelets that I used to wear; Captain Clifton Cushman and Private First Class Robert Phillips. I recently tried reaching out in the hopes that I could return them to family members and then they could be passed down to other generations of the deceased. My hope is to fulfill what you are asking for. I think that it would be a comforting feeling for a family member to know that they weren’t the only ones thinking about what happened to their lost loved ones. I was fortunate enough to miss the draft by only a few years but it weighs heavily on me knowing how lucky I really was.

      Reply

  6. I wish I could have mine back. I was stationed in California and told to take it off and never wear it again. I sent it home but never got it back. Did they keep a record of who purchased who’s name?

    Reply

  7. My POW bracelet was commander Edward Martin. I posted on the love letters site about how much it meant to me and right before Christmas I got a personal letter from my PO W. It was the most wonderful Christmas present ever. I still have the bracelet and it still means a lot to me.

    Reply

    1. Hey! A note from another reader:
      I’m an historian of children and childhood working on a book about the Vietnam War in the lives of American children and am currently focusing my research on POW/MIA bracelets. I would be very interested in visiting with some of you about wearing your POW/MIA bracelets as kids in the Vietnam era. (I’ve worn mine since the early 1970s)
      Thank you.
      Joel

      Joel P. Rhodes, Ph.D.
      Professor
      Department of History
      Southeast Missouri State University
      jrhodes@semo.edu
      573-651-2715

      Reply

    2. Oh how special is this. I also wore one and wish I could find it. I think mine was Robert Spencer. I prayed for him and wore the bracelet a long time. It did break but I cherished it.

      Reply

  8. I wore and still have my POW bracelet. It bears the name of a Capt.John Dunn. I was about 8 years old and living on the Naval Station in Annapolis. We used to check the paper each day or each week at the bus stop for POWs who had been released. We would wear the bracelet until our soldier’s name was in the paper. My mother bought mine at a USO fund raiser for a couple dollars.

    Reply

      1. Hi Renee, yes I knew he had been released but the link on your site let me know that he passed away in 1998. Its too bad. I wasn’t even thinking of locating him back then. What do you think the significance is for a soldier to have the bracelet that someone wore. Honestly it never occured to return it to him because it meant so much to me. It was nice to find his bio and I appreciate your efforts that led me there. Thank you. Tracey

      2. Hey! A note from another reader:
        I’m an historian of children and childhood working on a book about the Vietnam War in the lives of American children and am currently focusing my research on POW/MIA bracelets. I would be very interested in visiting with some of you about wearing your POW/MIA bracelets as kids in the Vietnam era. (I’ve worn mine since the early 1970s)
        Thank you.
        Joel

        Joel P. Rhodes, Ph.D.
        Professor
        Department of History
        Southeast Missouri State University
        jrhodes@semo.edu
        573-651-2715

    2. Hi Tracy I was interested in your bracelet that is actually my husbands father’s name and to my knowledge he was either a Sargent or captain in the Air Force stationed in California at March Air Force Base if you are interested in donating it to his son please email me and desireedunn5469@gmail.com thank you

      Reply

      1. Hello, In my research years ago I learned there was more than one John Dunn. My bracelet said Capt. John G. (Galbreath) Dunn. Its been a while since I dug into this stuff but I may not actually have your father in laws’s name on my bracelet. I would need more info to confirm. Also, the names were not unique to the bracelets. In other words, more than one bracelet could have the same name on it.

        Fascinating either way.

        Tracey

  9. CORRECTION John H. Dunn was deceased in 1998. My bracelet is for a John G. Dunn and there is no indication here that he is deceased. There is no middle initial on the bracelet but the capture date clarified which John Dunn I have.

    Reply

  10. I’m an historian of children and childhood working on a book about the Vietnam War in the lives of American children and am currently focusing my research on POW/MIA bracelets. I would be very interested in visiting with some of you about wearing your POW/MIA bracelets as kids in the Vietnam era. (I’ve worn mine since the early 1970s)
    Thank you.
    Joel

    Joel P. Rhodes, Ph.D.
    Professor
    Department of History
    Southeast Missouri State University
    jrhodes@semo.edu
    573-651-2715

    Reply

  11. I got my POW bracelets in 1972 in San Diego. I still have it. It broke in half in the late 70’s. My POW is Capt. John Fer, he’s a retired It. Col. I would love to send it to him. I haven’t found a Obit. for him. He would be about 79 or 80 now. I paid $2.00 for mine. I wore that bracelet with pride. I’ve read alot about my POW and so proud that I got to wear it in his honor. Thanks, Julia

    Reply

    1. My bracelet broke in half too. I was so young when I wore it that it broke from the stress of squeezing it to fit my small wrist. I have mine too, which I taped way back when.

      Reply

      1. Tracey, would you be willing to talk with me about your bracelet for a book I’m writing on the Vietnam War in the lives of American children?

      2. Hi Joel,
        Can you tell me a little more about your book? I may be interested in speaking with you. My uncle was a POW for almost 6 years. We wore our bracelets everyday until he came home.
        Thanks

      3. Hey Christa,
        I’m a history professor and more specifically a political and social historian of the Cold War era. Currently, I’m researching and writing a book on the Vietnam War as seen through the eyes of preadolescent American children which builds on my last book, “Growing Up in a Land Called Honalee: The Sixties in the Lives of American Children.” I’m interested in how the Vietnam War manifested in the lives of preadolescents – born roughly between 1960 and 1970 – and how children made meaning of these historical forces based on their particular developmental age. Ultimately, I am concerned with, not only the immediate imprint of Vietnam in their lived experience, but also the causal developmental results which may have resonated across their life course. In short, how their unique perspective on Vietnam has influenced them as adults.

        My father served in Vietnam in 1971 and I’ve been wearing a POW/MIA bracelet since 1972 (although not his). The chapter on POW/MIA bracelets centers on what motivated children to wear them, the emotional bonds forged between child and serviceman, how children “performed” patriotism by wearing them, and what impact the bracelets have had on how children thought about the war. As you might imagine, there is also a chapter on POW/MIA families which makes your insight particularly valuable to my work.

      4. Hello, I have been thinking about your request to talk about my experience as a relates to the POW bracelets. I have since called my brother, because he had one too, but doesn’t remember much the same way I do. Makes me wonder how well my recollection of things is.

      5. No worries… that’s a common occupational hazard in my line of work. Perhaps it might jog your memory if you knew the types of questions I’m asking people. What motivated children to wear them, the emotional bonds forged between child and serviceman, how children “performed” patriotism by wearing them, and what impact the bracelets may have had on how children thought about the war?

      6. I can’t say why I wore the bracelet or what the motivation was. My father was a LCDR in the Navy and I suppose patriotism was built in to our lives by default. So, I don’t think I wore it as a sign of patriotism. In other words I did not make a conscience effort to wear it for that reason. I don’t know, maybe I was just too young then.

  12. Did you form an imaginative attachment to “your guy” as so many of us did? Did that “connection” have any impact on your thoughts about
    the war in Vietnam?

    Reply

    1. No, I cannot say there was any attachment beyond looking for his name in the paper. Even though Capt. Dunn was a POW for several years he was released relatively quickly after I got his bracelet. The impact of the Vietnam war on me was not forged by a connection to an unknown soldier through a bracelet. I was impacted more in earlier years by my father’s absence and an eventual move to Guam. I don’t think I was even thinking about a war going on. During the time we returned to Annapolis, when I got and wore the bracelet, I don’t think I was thinking about being at war. My father was nearing the end of a 20 year career and it was the most idyllic time in my childhood.

      Reply

      1. Excellent…thank you so much for sharing your perspective, Tracey. I know what you mean about idyllic childhood, my last book was “Growing Up in a Land Called Honalee: the Sixties in the Lives of American Children.”

      2. You’re welcome. I wish I could’ve offered more. When I pressed my memory the kinds of things you were asking about just weren’t coming to mind. I wish you well with your continued research and success with the new book.

      3. I was 14 maybe. Lived in a very small town. Don’t remember how I got the bracelet. Just know his name was Robert Pierce. I do know I wrote letters and a picture or two. I h know that he came to my home in s small town Kaleva when I was away to see me. I was 14. I feel so bad that I wasn’t home. Feel that it would have changed my life. Or maybe his. He was important to me. He was kind and who would come to a little
        Town in northern michigan to meet a girl.thank you.

    2. Yes it was always my guy is……….turns out my guy passed away on Jan. 18 this year. he was in his 90′ his name was Capt. James Mulligan, Jr. He was a prisoner in Hanoi for 7 years. He was a very decorated soldier. I’ve had his bracelet since the late 1960’s and it’s always been close to me. May he rest in Peace

      Reply

  13. The other day I came across my POW/MIA bracelet I wore in Jr. High. Upon googling the name on the bracelet, I found that he was a POW and was released in 1973 and there is a good possibility he is still living!

    Reply

  14. I have one and only paid a few dollars for it. I still have it and have not checked lately but ran across it the other day so I need to do some checking on mine. I wore it for a LONG time was probably about 13 or 14 when I got it and am 62 now.

    Reply

  15. Wow! I came across this by chance.Being a teen in the U.K when Vietnam was high profile,I only saw what was on the international news channels.Further history ha been self education.Then snippet’s like this are revealed and one learns a little bit more.Those bracelet’s are some kind of exclusive in a very special way.

    Reply

  16. I got my POW Bracelet probably in 1970 I probably paid $3.00 and with it I received a newspaper with info about POW’s. My bracelet was for Col. George Day, captured 8/26/1967. Col Day was a Marine who served in WWII, Korea, and Viet Nam. He was released on March 14, 1973. He wrote a book “Return with Honor” and was a highly decorated soldier, including the highest honor, the Medal of Honor. I graduated from High School the spring of 1973, got married and started a family. I regret not having contacted Col. Day. I still have my bracelet and keep it in my jewelry box. I take it out every so often and think of what a brave hero he was and of all the brave men and women who serve today. I hope we never have a call for such bracelets again.

    Reply

    1. I have a correction for my post concerning POW Col George Day. Col Day was an Air Force pilot, I mistakenly referred to him as a Marine. My apologies.

      Reply

  17. I wore my bracelet through high school and some college years. My solider, Maj. Charles Franklin, was MIA and never accounted for, is my understanding.

    Reply

  18. Yes…..I had/have one. I got it in 1968, representing Capt. John Dunn who was taken captive on 3-18-68. Over past decades, the bracelet has had several homes to a resting place in my hutch. I place it on a Christmas tree limb each year. I goggled Capt. Dunn (oh the progress in the past 50 years!) and found he was born in 1943 (8 years before me) and after being captive for 1,972 days in Cambodia and South Vietnam, he was released in 1973. I feel/hope he may still be alive. Thank you, Capt. Dunn, for your service to our country.

    Reply

    2. Hi Barbara, your comment confirms for me that more than one bracelet for a single soldier were made. I wasn’t aware of that until I found this site. I am certain it must be true since you and I both have Capt. John G. Dunn. It is nice that you put your bracelet on your Christmas tree. I was so young when I got mine I can hardly believe I still have it. When I checked into his current status a year ago or more I found that he was alive but do not know now. I am not sure how I found that out either. Maybe it was a link Renee provided. Thanks for posting, it was nice to read your comments.
      Tracey

      Reply

  19. Thank you, thank you, thank you! This site and story has just helped me find out more information on John F Hummel. I remember sending away for my bracelet at about the age of 12. I wore it for so long and then kept it for many years. I don’t know when I lost track of it exactly and wish I still had it. I prayed for John many times over the years, and have wondered if he was ever found. I had no idea how to look into it. It seems by what I have just read on the link you provided, that he was never even looked for by our government. I find the whole thing despicable and when I first learned of our soldiers being abandoned and left in the hands of our enemy it made me cry. My prayers go out to all those left behind and their families. Thanks again

    Reply

    1. Kathleen, I’m so happy that you enjoyed the article. I’m sorry to hear that you couldn’t find more info, but I’m glad that you’ve kept “your” soldier in mind.

      Reply

  20. My name is Ellen and I wore mine for quite awhile Captain John Dunn. When some of the POW’s were found and brought back they televised it and one of the first POW’s off the plane was Captain John Dunn. I was shocked. And so pleased that he made it. I still have the bracelet but I wore it so long that it broke in half but I still have it.

    Reply

    1. Hi Ellen, we share a soldier I guess. Mine broke in half too. We used to check the lists of names of in the paper to see who had been released. I still have my bracelet. What I did not know until finding this site was that more than one bracelet was made for each POW.

      Reply

  21. Harry Smith from NBC is doing a story this morning, February 7, 2020, on the Today Show about these bracelets. He will be talking to the man behind the bracelets from the Smithsonian in Washingto, DC.

    Reply

  22. I wear the one my mom wore as a kid almost daily. I talked to the man etched in it. I’m looking for more original ones if anyone can’t help… besides eBay….
    Thanks

    Reply

  23. I was shocked when I read Capt. James P. Warner obviously was such a common bracelet. How many bracelets was each name printed?? What happened to him

    Reply

  24. I also had a bracelet that i wore for years. I may have dreamed it, it it seems that I remember the news media aired a segment showing an airplane landing with many POWs returning home and seeing my man deplane. I think it was in Texas? I wish I still had my bracelet. I didn’t take it off for years and it finally broke. I prayed for my man and still think about him. Have tried to find him with no luck. I think his name was Robert Spencer and for some reason I think he was from Texas. Special memories

    Reply

  25. I served in Vietnam and over Route 1 (Ho Chi Minh Trail) directing air strikes on munitions convoys. I experienced the 23mm, 37mm, 57mm and more anti-aircraft artillery during the 69-71 period. While at Ubon RTAFB I watched the F-100’s depart and directed them to an air strike while watching their approach, release and pull-up after releasing their ordinance. I had so much respect for those pilots who risked it all to slow down the enemy’s supply chain. After returning I purchased a MIA bracelet with Capt. ROBERT WILLETT, JR’s name on it. I had hoped for his safe return, unfortunately he has not returned til this day! To his family I pray for his return one day. Until then, I will continue to honor him with this small token of support. Although I don’t wear it everyday as I once did, it is a must on Memorial Day each year. For those of us that served… we honor those who never returned and are still serving!

    Reply

  26. I recently came across my bracelet (Capt. Ben Ringsdorf, 11-11-66) that I was given in the late 60s when I was in high school in Wyoming. My older sister had one and she was able to get one for me where she lived in California. I wore it for a very long time, and continually checked the lists of returning soldiers in the newspaper, but never saw my soldier’s name. I don’t remember when I stopped checking the names or wearing the bracelet. Since finding the bracelet again, I was easily able to find information and his obituary via the Internet. He remained a POW for six years, and was finally returned home to study and become a doctor. He had a long career, often providing healthcare to people with very little or no money. I found information on his daughter, who was mentioned in the obituary, and have tried contacting her, but to no avail. I am again proudly wearing the bracelet, and plan to continue to do so.

    Reply

  27. I paid $3.00 for mine and worr daily for years. I did some research and found very little but I do know my POW was 27 years old and was a pilot. There was a website to post the information on my bracelet. I was hoping to return it to him or his family but never received a response. I plan to leave it to my granddaughter with stories of how the war shaped my beliefs. I was a teenager during this time. I was in college when the draft was instituted. We gathered in the student union to hear draft numbers assigned by birthdate announced. It was very moving to witness.

    Reply

  28. CAPT JOHN R HILL

    USA 27 APR 70 SVN

    He was a helicopter pilot whose body was never recovered. I wear his POW/MIA bracelet to this day. The lettering is worn but still readable. RIP

    Reply

  29. Every once in a while it occurs to me that something I’ve always wondered about is probably available on the web. Today I looked up my guy to learn he did not make it, and his remains were found and identified. IIRC they were sold by someone at my high school, we had to wait for them to come in the mail. I spent extra for a copper one. A friend of mine had the same soldier’s name on hers but in nickel.

    One soldier from my hometown was KIA and I found his name on the wall. It didn’t occur to me to look for my MIA guy, and I’m sure his name is there now if it wasn’t before. RIP Dan Arizmendez and John Jacovac.

    Reply

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