THE WALL OF FACES

Never forget.

HOOAH

What you looked like and what happened to you. I wore a bracelet with your name on it that I got in 6th grade. The bracelet is long gone but I will never forget you.

What you looked like and what happened to you. I wore a bracelet with your name on it that I got in 6th grade. The bracelet is long gone but I will never forget you.

The POW/MIA bracelet with John's info on it is the first memorial bracelet I acquired, shortly after joining the service myself in April '92. I chose his bracelet because he is from Chico CA; I grew up in Nor Cal (Humboldt specifically) and wanted some sort of connection. I recently connected with my birth father's family and several siblings I grew up without. I knew my grandfather had been a Marine, but I was shocked to learn that he had been captured on Guam in WWII, was a Japanese POW for nearly four years. He survived his captivity, later served in the Korean War, and went on to retire after thirty years of service. I created a bracelet in his honor, as well as bracelets of brothers lost in Afghanistan. John Adams bracelet still holds a special place in my memory, on memorial day, and every day I choose to rotated his bracelet into my daily rotation of honor! Lastly, I had the honor of serving in the Pacific Honor Guard, while stationed in Hawaii, and participated many repatriation ceremonies of remains arriving at the research lab for identification and return to their families. May God bless the Adam's family and closure be brought to you all through the repatriation of his remains.

"The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs and comes short again and again, who knows the great enthusiasms, the great devotions, and spends himself in a worthy cause; who at best, knows the triumph of high achievement; and who, at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who know neither victory nor defeat."
-Theodore Roosevelt, "Citizen in a Republic", April 23, 1910