Digging Around

Saturday, Dec. 23, 2006 - 2:09 a.m.

We had another earthquake at about ten minutes to eleven on Friday night, and it was also a 3.7.

Just a weensy little rattler -- but then again, we own a LOT of stuff that rattles.

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I finally got fed up on Friday night and attacked the Closet of Doom with a vengeance. John and I got rid of all but two empty cardboard boxes, and were able to touch the window in the back of the closet for the first time all year.

In my closet travels, I found one of my mother's jewelry boxes.

This wasn't the big one with the sets, that I dealt with a few days back; this one had her most personally prized items.

I found pieces of paper upon which I had learned to type.

I found a little pair of celluloid doves that had been on the family Christmas tree every year since the before the mastodons were extinct. I'm too afraid to take the birds and put them on my tree, as they are so fragile -- not to mention highly flammable -- and we're in earthquake country... :-)

As I removed the items from the box, I discovered something I'd forgotten about.

Beneath the typewritten material, there was a bracelet.

But not just any bracelet. -- This was a POW bracelet from the Viet Nam war.

Suddenly, there were the memories: My parents telling me that Uncle David was over there loading things onto planes and taking things off of planes so that the soldiers doing the fighting would have supplies. Sitting up early in the morning to watch the POWs be returned home; it happened in the spring of 1973 on a school night, and I was up at two in the morning and told that if I wanted to, I could stay home until noon the next day.

It wasn't Uncle David's name on the bracelet, as he was never captured or shot down -- this bracelet was for Captain Dennis Chambers.

I was too young to remember how POW bracelets were acquired, but I did know that Captain Dennis Chambers was a man who got shot down.

We took turns wearing it. Even though I was only eight when the war ended, I was allowed and encouraged to wear this POW bracelet when I wanted to.

I probably understood more about the Viet Nam war than an eight year old child should have, but then again, my parents didn't pull any punches.

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I started wondering whatever happened to Dennis Chambers.

I Googled him and found out that yes, he was indeed one of the people who was released from the POW camp in March of 1973.

He made his way back to California, where he's from, and after a brief stint as an airline pilot, followed by a successful real estate career, he retired and lives within just a couple of hours of here.

I finally stopped weeping a few moments ago so I could upload this post.

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That's it. Have a good Saturday, and gods help you if you're out shopping today.

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