By DOROTHY CARNINE
Secretary
A dessert meeting at 1 p.m. was held in the home of Dorothy Carnine, April 2, 2022. A delicious berry and nut dish was served with nuts and Easter Chocolate. It was a beautiful day with no wind, 7 members attended.
Regent Audrey Hoeler, at 1:20pm led us in the Opening Ritual and the Pledge of Allegiance.
Indian Minutes: Southwest: The southwest was dry and the Native Americans lived in tiered homes made out of adobe bricks, and hogans, whose doors always faced east. Famous tribes include the Navajo Nation, the Apache, and the Pueblo Indians.
National Defense: POW bracelets from the Vietnam War. During the Vietnam War era, many people wore metal bracelets inscribed with the name of an American prisoner of war (POW) In 1970, 2 Los Angeles college girls, Carol Bates Brown and Kay Hunter, wanted to support U.S.troups in Vietnam. Members of the student group Voices in Vital America(VIVA), which was founded to publicize the plight of Vietnam/Southeast Asia prisoners of war (POWs), and men missing in action(MIA), they met with the wives of three MIA pilots who hoped the students could help draw attention to the missing soldiers and pray for them.
The girls visualized a bracelet to remember those who were missing. Kay moved on to other activities and Carol was joined by another student Steve Frank, and their adult advisor, Gloria Coppin.
They designed a simple bracelet with the missing man’s name, rank, and date of loss. A small shop in Santa Monica did the engraving and unable to get sponsors Gloria’s husband donated the copper and brass for the initial1200 bracelets. The nickel bracelets were $2.50, the copper ones$3.00.
In September 1970, the group representatives went to Washington, DC, and spoke at the National League of Families meeting. The wives and families of the missing soldiers were enormously interested in the bracelets.
A radio host from LA and future US Congressman, Bob Dornan, spoke about the bracelets on his program.
They officially launched the bracelet program on Veteran’s Day, November 11, 1970. They were receiving orders for more than 12,000 bracelets per day. Carol and Steve dropped out of college to work full time. Carol eventually became VIVA’s National Chairman of the POW/MIA Bracelet campaign, with entertainers Bob Hope and Martha Raye as honorary co-chairman.
By 1976 the group had distributed almost 5 million bracelets. The idea was that a bracelet would be worn until the soldier returned home and then the bracelet might be sent to him, or until the remains of the soldier were brought back home. Lynne Messersmith recalled wearing her bracelet for many years.
Secretary’s report was accepted as read.
Completed Scholarship applications have been received and will be judged by the committee.
We will host the Sandhills Chapter at our meeting June 5 in Alliance for the State Regent’s meeting.
The program was viewing a quilt made by Eva Knight for Nebraska’s 150 Statehood year celebration. We then toured the greenhouse. The ladies thanked Dorothy for hostessing and our next meeting will be at the Knight Museum, Linda Lebeda will be our hostess. Meeting adjourned at 2:30 p.m.