05/26/2024
Hope you're having a great and honorable Memorial Weekend. Here is a little story for you to fit the emotion and gravity of this sacred holiday. As many of you know our lovely mother Judy unexpectedly passed away last autumn. We four Thoreson siblings have been pouring through endless family history going back to the mid-nineteenth century. Overwhelming. A big part of this history is/was our father, the late Lt. Col. Richard M. Thoreson (USMC) who flew fixed-wing aircraft but then moved on to all types of helicopters during his 20 years of service. One of his greatest interests, and concerns, was in his fallen and lost comrades during the Vietnam War, the Missing In Action (MIA). He wrote, and called, endlessly to those in power who could help locate and return remains back to their families. He also wore an MIA bracelet that I recall very well. After his death in 2000, we packed away many of his belongs and forgot about them, until now. We found his MIA bracelet recently with the name, Major Albro L. Lundy Jr. USAF 12-24-70 Laos, engraved on it. I brought it home and did a little research with my wife and discovered that his remains had been found in 2004 and returned to his family, four years after my father passed away. Major Albro Lundy was buried with full honors at Arlington National Cometary. More research ensued and we located his son who works in a law firm in California, and I cold called him and left a message. He called back and was very intrigued. We had a long, nostalgic and very emotional conversation about our fathers and their (and our) lives. Turns out there were millions of MIA bracelets made to honor our fallen and missing heroes. They were very popular even though there were less than 3000 total MIAs. There were duplicate bracelets made. Albro III told me that there have been six families who have returned his father's bracelets back to the family and they are in a personal display case at Arlington National Cemetery along with the accompanying story. On this Memorial Weekend, I am returning my father's bracelet to the family, and it will now be the 7th bracelet in the display at Arlington along with our father's story of love and concern for his fallen and missing men and women who served this great country. I have also passed on my father's novel that he wrote before he passed away called "Someone To Remember," a story of a pilot who crash landed and went missing on an island during the Pacific Campaign of WWII. I'm certain that Albro and Dick are sharing some of their stories together as they fly through the clouds looking down on two families that did not know each other but have now forged a new friendship based on lives and times that have long passed. It's truly amazing. Have a great Memorial Weekend and I hope you will also remember someone who served this country honorably and gave back to their families, the community and this great nation. Thank you.
