A stranger made a random purchase of a bracelet almost 50 years ago, keeping alive the memory of an Air Force pilot from Lauderdale, Mississippi who was lost over North Vietnam on July 25, 1967.

Now, that bracelet has rekindled memories for the family of Col. Herbert Lunsford, of his life and service, thanks to the stranger’s Memorial Day weekend appeal on Facebook.

Skeptics may say the tale is coincidence. Believers might say the hands of God typed the message.

Janice Fec was 25 and a mother of two living in Concord, California around 1970 when she spotted a POW/MIA bracelet being sold as a fundraiser by a women’s group at Good Shepherd Lutheran Church. The inscription read, “Lt. Col. Herbert Lunsford / 7-25-67.”

The bracelets, popular at that time, were made by college students to raise awareness about American Prisoners of War suffering in captivity in Southeast Asia.

Fec had family members in the military, felt patriotic and wore the bracelet for years, carrying it with her as she moved to Florida, to Baton Rouge, Louisiana for 22 years, and back to Florida where she’s now retired and living at The Villages.

Her research over the years yielded some details about Lt. Col. Lunsford.

Through a report filed by the Homecoming II Project in 1990, she found Lunsford and 1st Lt. Jeremy M. Jarvis were flying an F4C Phantom on a mission over North Vietnam. The aircraft was shot down and crashed on the coast of North Vietnam about 10 miles south of Dong Hoi, Quang Binh Province, according to the report. The pilots were declared missing in action and never were found.

Fec failed, however, in her search for family members.

Something possessed her, she said, maybe patriotism, maybe God, she says, to give it one more try on Sunday, May 27.

At 10:22 a.m., she typed: “It seems appropriate to post this today! I’ve had it since 1969. Wish I could find more information on this soldier.”

Research accelerates

The post resonated with a Baton Rouge friend, Lanell Martin Speights, whose husband served in Vietnam as a medic.

Speights posted an inquiry on May 29 to Facebook friends to see if anyone knew the location of Lt. Col. Lunsford’s hometown. With the help of friend and researcher Tricia Bauer, information began to flow through searches of U.S. Census records, The Meridian Star, Find-A-Grave and the Mississippi Enumeration of Educable Children.

That led to a Google search that revealed Lunsford’s sister, Eloise Lunsford Powell, lived in Baton Rouge with a daughter until her death in 2016. Powell’s daughter, Glenda Powell Townsend, and Bauer had even attended church together a few years ago and Lanell Speights had personal connections with Lunsford’s niece.

On May 30, Glenda Townsend relayed Fec’s request to connect with Lunsford’s daughter, Debby Fleming, of Albuquerque, New Mexico.

“I called her and she wasn’t home,” Fec said. “I was so touched to finally find her; I was in tears when I left a phone message.”

On May 31, Fec and Fleming spoke, and the story of Col. Lunsford and his family, once too raw to think about for Debby Fleming, returned to light.

“Surely, by now, I’m able to handle this a little bit,” Fleming said in a telephone interview Friday. “I thought that it was neat that she hung onto it and was thinking about us all these years.

“We didn’t remember him the way she would. Back then, for us, it was like … he was going to come back … they’re going to find him.”

Missing Dad

Debby was 16 when her father was reported missing in action. Her younger siblings, Janet and William, were in junior high.

Their father was born in Louisiana, but his parents, William and Rowena Lunsford, moved back to Lauderdale, where they raised Herbert and his siblings, William, Bobby Ray and Eloise.

Herbert Lunsford went to Mississippi State, married Gwendolyn Franklin, of Forest, and joined the Air Force, which had them on the move, like all military families.

They were stationed at Holloman Air Force Base and living in Alamogordo, New Mexico when then Maj. Lunsford and 1st Lt. Jarvis were shot down.

The family’s wait began, and the husband and father never came home. His family had him declared dead in 1976. A major at the time of the MIA, Lunsford was subsequently promoted to lieutenant colonel and then colonel.

Gwen Lunsford decided it best to keep her young family in Alamogordo, where they lived off-base and had connected to the town. She remarried and the family moved on. Fleming’s sister, Janet Redfield, now lives in Grand Junction, Colorado. Their brother, William Lunsford, lives in Reno, Nevada. 

Gwen Lunsford had a friend who worked for a senator – Fleming can’t remember the name – who received permission to have a memorial placed at Vicksburg National Military Park with the names of Col. Lunsford and other Vietnam War casualties.

“There are no remains, just the names near a flag pole,” Fleming said.

The National League of Families, a POW-MIA support group, once contacted them and reported a farmer had found Col. Lunsford’s remains and dog tags, but Fleming never heard more about it and she doesn’t know if it’s true.

She also received another bracelet with his name on it and the family was given some bracelets when they were first made, but she put them in a box.

Also packed away was a trunk. Fleming’s stepfather placed mementos – her dad’s belongings, old photos and letters – for her to open when the time was right. But the emotions remained raw all these years and she couldn’t bring herself to open it.

Time to remember

Then, about a month ago, her cousin Glenda’s granddaughter was studying the Vietnam War and decided to do a project on her “Uncle Herbert.”

“For the first time since my step dad packed it for me, I opened the trunk to help her,” Fleming said. “It was very overwhelming to look at it. There are pictures, letters …”

She closed it up again.

On Memorial Day, Fleming’s sister, Janet, posted their father’s picture on her Facebook page.

A few days later, Fleming received the call from Fec.

“It’s odd this all came together at same time; very weird,” Fleming said. “My cousin Glenda contacted me. My sister had just put the picture on Memorial Day. It’s all kind of weird, all of this attention at the same time.”

Last week, Fec packed up the bracelet, with its white circle and blue star, and mailed it to Fleming.

“It meant a lot to me and I wore it for many years,” Fec said. “I was emotional to see it go.”

The tracking number indicated the bracelet would arrive Saturday in Albuquerque. Janet Redfield is due to arrive on Sunday and Debby and Janet plan to have their picture taken with the bracelet so they can send it to Fec.

From there the bracelet may go to Debby’s son Matthew, who will have that memento of his grandfather, Col. Herbert Lunsford, of Lauderdale, Mississippi, who in a small way has come home.

Follow Dave Bohrer on Twitter @DA_Bohrer