Ohioan passes POW bracelet to 91-year-old Vietnam War veteran

TOLEDO, Ohio (AP) — An Ohio woman who wore a bracelet engraved with the name of a prisoner of war from Vietnam is passing it on to that Florida veteran as he marks the 48th anniversary of his capture.

Patty James told The Blade newspaper in Toledo she got the bracelet bearing the name of Col. Lawrence Guarino as a Christmas gift when she was a teen. The bracelets were popular among American youth to show support for soldiers. She wore her bracelet daily until Guarino returned in February 1973 after being held for nearly eight years, and then held onto it for decades more.

“I’ve never forgotten his name,” James said. “It’s always been etched in my mind.”

James, an assistant to the University of Toledo president, didn’t try to find Guarino until recently, after the school’s military and media liaison showed her a video message from the U.S. defense secretary and she learned more than 1,600 POW or MIA Vietnam soldiers aren’t accounted for, the newspaper reported.