THE WALL OF FACES

I am the Curator of the POW/MIA Bracelet Display in the Vietnam Hangar of the Palm Springs Air Museum in Palm Springs, California where we now have over two thousand bracelets and would be honored to include your bracelet in our Display should you have one. If you no longer have your bracelet or wish to keep yours or are an immediate family member (spouse, fiancé, sibling, child, grandchild, cousin, niece, nephew, or close friend) I can order one for the Display in your name with funds donated by our Museum visitors.
https://palmspringsairmuseum.org/vietnam-pow-bracelet-display/
Dr. Dave Thompson
Palm Springs Air Museum
POW/MIA Bracelet Display Curator
Lt. Commander U.S. Navy 1964-1970
10-103 Lakeview Dr. Rancho Mirage, Ca 92270
760-328-0859 760-464-6843 [email protected]

My father didn't know Jimmy but wore a silver bracelet with his name rank and date he was shot down. He wanted to make sure that he was brought home. I continue to try to contact anyone related to return this bracelet to them.
Please contact me and God bless you all.

Thank you for your service to our country so long ago sir. I am heartened you were finally returned home after the passage of so many years though I wish it had been under different circumstances. May you rest in eternal peace.

Dear SMS James Caniford,
Thank you for your service as an Aircraft Maintenance Technician. My dad passed away on your birthday. Say hi to him, his name is Sam. It is another autumn, and time has passed since this war. It is important for us all to acknowledge the sacrifices of those like you who answered our nation's call. Please watch over America, it stills needs your courage and faithfulness. Rest in peace with the angels.

On the night of March 29, 1972, an AC-130A Hercules "Spectre" gunship (#55-0044, nicknamed "Prometheus") departed Ubon Airfield, Thailand on a night reconnaissance mission over supply routes used by North Vietnamese forces in Laos. The crew of the aircraft consisted of pilots MAJ Irving B. Ramsower II and 1LT Charles J. Wanzel III, the navigator, MAJ Henry P. Brauner, and crew members MAJ Howard D. Stephenson, CAPT Curtis D. Miller, CAPT Barclay B. Young, CAPT Richard Castillo, CAPT Richard C. Halpin, SSGT Merlyn L. Paulson, SSGT Edwin J. Pearce, SSGT Edward D. Smith Jr., SSGT James K. Caniford; and Airmen First Class (A1C) William A. Todd and (A1C) Robert E. Simmons. As the aircraft was in the jungle foothills 56 miles east of Savannakhet in southern Laos, it was shot down by at least one, possibly two Russian surface to air missiles (SAM). According to the F-4 Phantom II pilots escorting the ship, the AC-130 was in a valley a few miles west of Tchepone, Laos. The gunship was working over targets in the area. Visibility was about four miles with scattered clouds at 6,000 feet. The aircraft was illuminated by the full moon to the west, a gunners' moon. Triple-A (anti-aircraft fire) was moderate, nothing unusual, until the fighter pilots saw a SAM launch from their port side. It rose up in an arc headed for the AC-130. As the gunship rolled right to avoid the first SAM, two more were fired at it from different locations. There was no way out as they were bracketed. The escort pilots agreed, he took a hit on the right wing inboard engine and an explosion and fire resulted. As the gunship started to drop down, another explosion occurred and something large and flaming was seen to separate from the aircraft. "There was no mayday call," said the Phantom pilot. "We heard a couple beepers very distinctly, but all we could see down there in the darkness were fires on the ground." This word that a number of beepers were heard caused speculation that the North Vietnamese were trying to lure rescue crews into an ambush. U.S. government sources stated in February 1986 that a fighter escort plane reported that the aircraft crashed in a fireball, no parachutes were seen, nor was radio contact made with the AC-130 or any of its crew. In 1972, however, the Pearce family was told that an F-4 support plane traveling with the AC-130 heard "so many beepers they couldn't count them" and that the emergency beeper type carried by the crew could only be activated manually. The Pearce family took this as strong proof that a number of the crew survived. The support aircraft plane left the area to refuel. When it returned, there were no signs of life. The U.S. and Laos excavated this aircraft's crash site in February 1986. The teams recovered a limited number of human bone fragments, personal effects and large pieces of plane wreckage. It was later announced by the U.S. Government that the remains of Castillo, Halpin, Ramsower, Simmons, Todd, Paulson, Pearce, Wanzel and Smith had been positively identified from these bone fragments. They were interred in Arlington National Cemetery on June 18, 2010. [Taken from pownetwork.org and us-mil-thai.tripod.com]