By Andrew WestDOVER — In Kathy Strong’s words, this is a story of “faith, hope and love — my love for another person even though we never met.”
For more than 38 years, she wore a bracelet with the inscription, “Spec 5 James Moreland 2-7-68.”
“It was someone I did not know and had never met,” Ms. Strong said, “but I believe God wanted me to have the name of that soldier.”
Years later, she learned Sgt. Moreland had been killed in Vietnam. But she vowed to wear the bracelet until he came home.
Her mission now is to make sure there is a brick in every state in his honor.
On Saturday, March 29, the Walnut Creek, California, resident will dedicate Delaware’s, while serving as keynote speaker at the Kent County Veterans Memorial Park in Dover during an observance tied to the 50th anniversary of the end of the war. The ceremony starts at 2 p.m.
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Ms. Strong was in the seventh grade in 1972, when she made a Christmas wish for one of the bracelets. She found one in her stocking.
“Every single student in my English class had one,” she said. “It was very popular. I wanted to support the troops. This was a way I could — by wearing someone’s bracelet and praying for them every day.”
In 1973, American prisoners had been released, and she realized that the bracelet’s namesake must be missing in action.
When the war ended in 1975, she still had no word on his fate.
So, she sent a letter to the sponsor of the bracelets, Voices in Vital America.
About two weeks later, she received a reply, with an article and a photo of Sgt. 1st Class Moreland.
“That was the first time I had known anything about him or seen a picture,” Ms. Strong said. “He was in his Green Berets uniform, and he had a real intense look on his face. I just remember his eyes seeming to reach the very depths of my soul and saying, ‘Please don’t forget me.’”
Sgt. Moreland was listed as missing in action after a Special Forces camp in Lang Vei, Quang Tri province, South Vietnam, was attacked in the early morning of Feb. 7, 1968.
It was presumed that he died of head injuries in the command bunker. He was one of eight who were listed as missing in action.
Sgt. Moreland, 22 at the time of his death, had started his tour of duty on the Fourth of July the summer before. He entered the U.S. Army from California, where he had attended his final year of high school. His earlier education was near Birmingham, Alabama, where he was a star football player.
He trained as a combat medic and was assigned to Detachment A-101, Company C, 5th Special Forces Group.
A search team found bone fragments at the battle site in 1995. They were kept in Hawaii until DNA technology identified Sgt. Moreland’s remains in 2010.
His honors included a Purple Heart and a Silver Star.
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On the 40th anniversary of Sgt. Moreland’s death, a local newspaper in California wrote about Ms. Strong and her connection.
For years, it bothered her that she didn’t know anything about his family or his personal life.
However, a friend of the Morelands in Arkansas learned about her story, thanks to the internet, and alerted Sgt. Moreland’s sister in Washington state.
Ms. Strong traveled to Seattle to meet Sgt. Moreland’s sisters, and she had a chance to ask questions that had run through her mind for years. “Did he have any pets? What was his favorite TV show? Who did he take to prom his senior year?”
Over the decades, Ms. Strong took great care with the bracelet, keeping it tight to her wrist. She said it was adjustable, but it had to be done carefully.
In 2011, Ms. Strong attended Sgt. Moreland’s funeral and finally let go of the bracelet.
“I put it on the left sleeve of his uniform because I wore it on my left arm,” she said.
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Now 65 and retired after careers in insurance and banking, she plans to continue her quest to place bricks in Sgt. Moreland’s honor in every state. After Delaware, the remaining states are South Carolina, North Dakota, Maine, Wyoming and Maryland.
She also studied photojournalism in college and envisions a book with photos and tales from the visits to each state.
“I just think it’s important to honor him,” she said. “I want to educate local communities so that, years after I’m gone, people will still know his story.”
