MIA braclet-wearing woman meets family; fellow soldiers, of missing in Vietnam
Thursday 3 July 2008 at 12:14
by POW/MIA Chairman
Inside Bay Area - Oakland, CA, USAMIA braclet-wearing woman meets family; fellow soldiers, of missing in Vietnam
By Theresa Harrington
Contra Costa Times
Article Created: 07/03/2008 09:39:27 PM PDT
WALNUT CREEK — For more than 35 years, Kathy Strong has tried to learn all she could about a soldier missing in Vietnam whose name she wears on a bracelet around her wrist.
Her dreams of one day meeting James Leslie Moreland's family and fellow soldiers came true over the past two months, when she flew to Washington state and met his sisters, then flew to Los Angeles for a Weekend of Heroes convention honoring Moreland's commanding officer.
"I didn't know what to expect," said Strong, as she looked through her trip photos and mementoes at her Walnut Creek home recently. "I wanted to know that somebody loved him and somebody missed him and I could definitely tell that from my visits."
Strong's journey began when she received the thin metal band in her Christmas stocking as a teenager in 1972. In the decades that followed, she watched news reports to see if Moreland or his remains returned home, but he remained missing.
Her attachment to him grew, leading Strong to seek out books and Web sites that mentioned Moreland and the Feb. 7, 1968 battle of Lang Vei, where he was last seen alive. Five months ago, she marked the 40th anniversary of his disappearance by telling her story to the Times. She mentioned she wanted to speak to Moreland's family and those who served with him.
"Now, you are a part of the story," she told the Times.
Her words turned out to be prophetic.
The Times telephoned Paul Longgrear, who had been Moreland's commanding officer, for the original story. He agreed to speak with Strong and the two arranged to meet in June in California.
After Strong's story was published Feb. 28, it made its way via e-mail and the Internet to Moreland's sisters in Washington, and to Richard Allen in Sherman Oaks in Southern California. One of 24 Green Berets who served with Moreland at the battle of Lang Vei, Allen contacted the Times that afternoon and agreed to speak with Strong.
"I have built a Web site commemorating that battle and those who stood their ground against overwhelming odds," Allen wrote in an e-mail. "I would say that a vast majority of us feel that we were forgotten, so it is great to see that some are still remembered."
Moreland's sister Linda contacted the Times a month later, asking to get in touch with Strong.
"I was 19 years old when my brother became listed as MIA," she wrote in an e-mail. "I hope to one day get good news."
Thrilled to hear from people who could shed more light on Moreland, Strong arranged to meet Linda and her sister Anita at a restaurant in May. Allen agreed to meet Strong and Longgrear in June.
After returning from both meetings, Strong was eager to share her newfound knowledge with the Times, in part because readers were so responsive to the first story about her and her bracelet.
Moreland's sisters recounted stories about fishing with their brother and gave Strong a copy of his high school graduation photo, featuring a smiling face with brown eyes and dimples. Anita told Strong that Moreland had wanted to become a dentist and live in the Rogue River area after serving in the war.
Prompted by the Times story, Linda contacted the Ohio chapter of Prisoner of War and Missing in Action Families and agreed to allow Moreland's name to be distributed on new MIA bracelets.
Strong ordered several bracelets with Moreland's name and presented them to Longgrear and Allen, who continue to wear them.
During their meeting, Longgrear signed an autograph for Strong, calling her Moreland's "guardian angel."
"I think that kind of spoke to her spirit," Longgrear said in a phone interview from Georgia last week.
Allen said Strong impressed him as a true patriot. He hopes to get more information from Moreland's family for his Web site.
"There's two sides to any military person's story," Allen said in a Thursday phone interview. "There's their own personal battle experience and there's their family experiences back home."
Strong now has both sides of Moreland's story.
And she remains committed to wearing his bracelet until she learns the true ending.
"The journey's not over," Strong said. "I feel like the next chapter is we need Moreland to come home."
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