POW/MIA bracelet keeps memory of pilot lost in Vietnam War alive
Carol Stender
Date Modified: 11/12/2009 9:05 AM
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Agri News staff writer
I'm remembering a special war hero this Veterans Day.
First Lt. Steven Armistead was a pilot during the Vietnam War. Although I never met him, Armistead helped shape my thoughts of war service.
You see, I wear his bracelet. Or, rather, I wear a POW/MIA bracelet bearing his name. The engraving includes a date, 3-17-69, the day he was listed as Missing In Action. I got the bracelet as a Barrett High School freshman. I simply answered a magazine ad that offered the bracelets for sale.
I can't remember how much that piece of silver metal cost, but the bracelet was a regular companion for several years. The bracelet was a constant reminder of this soldier who served our country. All I knew about him came from a letter included with the bracelet. He was married, called Los Angeles home and his wife had plans to return to college.
Several years later when word came that the country was pulling out of Vietnam, I watched the exchange of POW/MIA soldiers closely. I looked over the names hoping that Armistead's would be included. I waited for word of his fate. None came.
I decided it was time to take the bracelet off. I placed it in my old jewelry box. My thoughts turned to studies, my career and my family. From time to time I thought of Armistead and his fate, but it wasn't until we found my bracelet again that I started a new search for this soldier.
My sister, Karen, actually found it. We were cleaning a China hutch my mom owned when she discovered it amongst a drawer full of family keepsakes.
"Hey!" she said. "It's your bracelet." "Which one," I asked as I rummaged through another drawer. "Why, your POW bracelet," she said.
It was like a long-lost friend. It reminded me of my unkept vow to wear this bracelet until he'd come home. There was a new mission in my life. I had to search for Armistead. The Internet could provide the clues.
Steven Ray Armistead was a captain in the U.S. Marine Corps and served with Marine Attack Squadron 533. He was the pilot of a two-man Gruman A6 Intruder. The plane was an all-weather, low-altitude carrier-based attack plane. The planes were used to fly close air support in all types of weather and on night attacks against enemy troop concentrations. Flying with him was his bombardier/navigator Capt. Charles E. Finney.
Their mission was to bomb an area near the South Vietnam and Laos border. The North Vietnamese and Viet Cong intruded on neutral Laos for sanctuary after their own missions. Of special note was a road the Viet- namese used to transport weapons, supplies and troops. It was often no more than a path through the dense jungle.
Armistead and Finney were to stop this flow of men and supplies. At 2130 hours, the crew completed an airstrike on their target. Their aircraft was immediately struck by enemy ground fire. Crewmen from another aircraft in the area observed an explosion in the vicinity of the target followed by a second explosion nearby. An aerial search and rescue operation was initiated and continued for several days, but was terminated when no trace of the aircraft or crew was found. Because of intense enemy presence, no ground search was possible. The formal search was terminated and both Armistead and Finney were listed as Missing In Action. During that time, Armistead was promoted to the rank of major. In 1995 and 1999, joint U.S. and Laos teams from the Joint Task Force for Full Accounting interviewed local villagers in the area of the crush. Investigators also excavated the crash site. A local worker turned over military dogtags bearing Armistead's name, but offered no information about his fate. Remains and personal items were found in the wreckage.
After an anthropological analysis at the Central Identification Laboratory in Hawaii, it was determined the remains were those of Charles Finney. No remains have been identified as Armistead's.
Armistead was just four months shy of his 25th birthday when he was shot down. He was the same age at that time as my eldest son, Wayne, is now. It isn't lost on me what Armistead gave up on that fateful mission. My son and his wife live here in Fergus Falls, just a short walk down the road. I have two grandsons who love to play with cars and watch Shrek and Cars movies. Tonight, as I babysit them, I'll hold them close as we watch movies. And as I wear and touch the bracelet that's again become a regular companion, I'll keep Armistead in my thoughts and remember his service to our country.