POW bracelet
{{Short description|Commemorative bracelet}}
{{Use American English|date=October 2024}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=October 2024}}
Image:POWBracelet.jpg an American non-commissioned officer missing since 1966.]]
A POW bracelet, also known as a POW/MIA bracelet, is a nickel-plated or copper commemorative bracelet engraved with the rank, name, and loss date of an American servicemen captured or missing in Southeast Asia during the Vietnam War.
History
The POW bracelet was conceived in 1970 by Carol Cates Brown and Kay Hunter, members of the California-based student group Voices in Vital America (VIVA),[http://thewall-usa.com/bracelet.asp "History of the POW/MIA Bracelet" by Carol Bates Brown: The Vietnam Veterans Memorial] with the intention that American prisoners of war in Southeast Asia not be forgotten.Allen, Michael J. Until the Last Man Comes Home. The University of North Carolina Press, 2009. Pages 57–59. Those who wore the bracelets vowed to leave them on until the serviceman named on the bracelet, or their remains, were returned to the United States,Morris, Bernadine. [https://www.nytimes.com/1972/06/17/archives/bracelet-that-stands-for-a-cause.html Bracelet That Stands for a Cause], The New York Times 17 June 1972. with the idea of returning the bracelet to the returning prisoner.{{cite web | url=https://americanhistory.si.edu/collections/search/object/nmah_1273063 | title=POW Bracelets }}{{cite web | url=https://jeffreyseglin.blogspot.com/2011/11/things-we-carry-pow-bracelet-medal-of.html | title=The Right Thing: The things we carry: A POW bracelet, a Medal of Honor recipient, and how the two came together | date=8 November 2011 }}{{cite web|url=https://www.tampabay.com/archive/1993/09/05/fad-bracelet-becomes-a-friend/|title=Fad bracelet becomes a friend|last=Krietemeyer|first=Janet J.|date=1993-09-05|publisher=Tampa Bay Times|access-date=2023-05-17}}
The bracelets, which cost 30 cents to produce, sold for $2.50 or $3.00 and increased VIVA's income to more than $7 million by 1973. Between 1970 and 1973, approximately 4 million bracelets were distributed.{{r|allen}} Politicians, entertainers, and models wore the bracelets.{{r|morris}}
See also
References
{{Reflist|30em}}
Further reading
{{refbegin|colwidth=30em}}
- Appy, Christian G. Patriots: The Vietnam War Remembered from All Sides. Viking. 2003, pp. 489–492.
- Hawley, Thomas M. The Remains of War: Bodies, Politics, and the Search for American Soldiers Unaccounted for in Southeast Asia. Durham: Duke University Press, 2005, p. 51.
- Hesse, Rayner W. Jewelrymaking Through History: An Encyclopedia. Westport, Conn: Greenwood Press, 200, p. 30.
- Holsinger, M. P. (1999). War and American popular culture: A historical encyclopedia. Westport, Conn: Greenwood Press, pp. 409–410.
- Wiest, A. A., Barbier, M., & Robins, G. (2010). America and the Vietnam War: Re-examining the culture and history of a generation. New York: Routledge, p. 181
{{refend}}
External links
- {{commons category-inline}}
{{Portal bar|1970s|Fashion|Politics|Society|United States}}
{{Authority control}}
Category:1970 establishments in California
Category:1970 in American politics
Category:American contemporary art
Category:Commemoration of people