I made great strides in organizing the camping gear yesterday. Now, you might ask… “For crying out loud…how much camping gear does this gal have???” Yeah, well…enough to make me crazy. It’s not just sorting the gear, though. There were boxes in the belly of the big camper that had just been hauled around from one side of the country to another without ever being opened. There were boxes of toiletries that had long ago either dried up completely or leaked out all over other things that were still perfectly usable. There were folders of pamphlets for the inner workings of the campers I’ve owned over the years. There were bags of receipt I kept for my business. There were countless business cards for people I don’t remember. Discount cards, rewards cards, gift cards with a dollar or two left on them. A couple of boxes of change. I’ve always said “I’ll get to that.” So, it’s time to pay the piper and go through all that. I have to maintain my mantra…be ruthless. Not a problem…till I found a rabbit hole I had to go down.

Capt. Chambless Chesnutt 30 Sep 1965

Some time ago, I found a Vietnam MIA/POW bracelet in a box of stuff I bought at an auction. I can’t remember now where or when. But when I went through the box, I came across the bracelet and immediately recognized it. The bracelets were created initially by a California student group called Voices in Vital America in May 1970…the year I was becoming a senior in high school. The bracelets cost $2.50 to $3.00 and were worn so that Prisoners of War would not be forgotten. 

The last time I stumbled across this bracelet was when I was downsizing the Colorado house after Mr. Virgo died. He was a soldier in Vietnam. I thought of all those soldiers who were POW’s and MIA and thought I’d look his name up on the internet. The only thing I found was his date of death and that he was from Little Rock, Arkansas. And, that he was listed as a Major. He must have been awarded that rank posthumously. I had a lot on my plate back then, so I carefully placed the bracelet in a box of stuff that was going with me in the camper. And never thought of it again until yesterday when I found it.

The internet has come a long way…even in just shy of nine years. While I didn’t find much on the web, I decided to give ancestry.com a try and found several pieces of information. He was in a play in high school. He was a runner in a track club. He was a handsome young man. The city directory listed him as being a salesman for Royal Typewriter. He was thirty-one years old when he died. He is buried in Little Rock National Cemetery. He was born 13 Aug 1934 Chambless Marshall Chesnutt. There were other Chesnutts listed in the City Directory of Little Rock in the early ‘50s.

In the 1958 Little Rock City Directory, it looks like he is married to “Pat D.” and lives at 2202 Marshall.

I’d love to find his family and return this bracelet to them. I know the power of social media and this is one of its GOOD aspects. I also know I have readers all over the country…even some in other countries. I wonder if you can spread this around and help me find this late soldier’s family? A week from today is Veteran’s Day. Wouldn’t it be awesome to find his family before then…or at least by the holidays???

Thank you in advance for helping me out with “Project Chesnutt”! It’s Feel Good Friday…Let’s see what we can do!

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“for the Holy Spirit will teach you in that very hour what you ought to say.””

Luke 12:12 ESV

#Veteran, #Vietnam, #KilledInAction