Hundreds, if not thousands, of people have worn POW/MIA bracelets carrying the name of Capt. Scott Speicher, the Cecil Field-based Navy pilot shot down on the first day of Operation Desert Storm, Jan. 17, 1991.
Speicher was the last unaccounted for of 49 American service members listed by the Department of Defense as POW/MIAs in the first Gulf War.
Many Jacksonville residents and former classmates at Forrest High School held rallies through the years to keep the face of Speicher in front of congressional and military leaders to determine his fate. And many paid $20 or so for the half-inch wide anodized aluminum and stainless steel bracelets or miniature dog tags.
It has become a tradition to wear a POW/MIA bracelet or dog tag until the person named is accounted for or comes home. A lot of bracelet wearers want to return the memento to the family.
They are requested not to attempt to contact the Orange Park family directly but to use the following procedure:
Write a letter to the family, making sure to include a name and an address should they choose to respond.
Place the letter and the bracelet in an envelope, write a return address, add the proper postage and send it to The Family of Capt. M. Scott Speicher, c/o Military Affairs Office, City of Jacksonville, 117 W. Duval St., Suite 175, Jacksonville, FL 32202.
Bob Buehn, the city's military affairs officer, said they will be given to the family who have advised they will be buried with Speicher. The bracelets also can be dropped off at the military affairs office on the first floor of City Hall.
For those outside of Jacksonville, they may write a letter to the family and place it and the bracelet in an envelope, seal it, write your return address, add the proper postage and address it as: To The Family of Capt. M. Scott Speicher. Then include that letter in a letter to the Navy Casualty Assistance Division, POW/MIA Branch (N135C), 5720 Integrity Drive, Millington, TN 38055-6210. Explain that the enclosed envelope contains a POW/MIA bracelet, and request it be forwarded to the family.
If the family does not want the bracelet, a spokesman for the division said it will be retained there and placed on periodic display.
jessie-lynne.kerr @jacksonville.com, (904) 359-4374