Vietnam-era bracelet links York woman to lost soldier's family

Seacoastonline.com: Vietnam-era bracelet links York woman to lost soldier's family

By Susan Morse
smorse@seacoastonline.com
August 03, 2011 2:00 AM
YORK — Thirty-six years after the end of the Vietnam War, York resident Ina Helkowsky has finally spoken with the family of the Navy captain whose MIA-POW bracelet she wore for years.

During the early 1970s, students in Los Angeles, Calif., originated the MIA/POW Bracelet Campaign, distributing over five million bracelets of Vietnam military personnel either missing in action or taken prisoner of war, according to miafacts.org. The idea was to honor the veterans, and to wear the bracelet until they, or their remains, came home.

Ina Helkowsky wore a silver bracelet with the name of Cmdr. Roy H. Bowling inscribed in black. Her husband, Bob Helkowsky, stationed at Loring Air Force Base in Limestone, Maine, got the bracelet for her, Helkowsky said.

Helkowsky wore the bracelet for years, not knowing who the man was, or what had become of him. In 1975, when the Vietnam War ended, the soldiers, sailors and other veterans started coming home.

"It was televised," said Helkowsky. "As each guy was getting off the aircraft their names were being announced. Mine never did. I continued wearing the bracelet until several years later. Then I stored it. I never knew what happened to this man."

She found out in the mid 1980s, when her children went to Washington, D.C., and visited the Vietnam Veterans Memorial. Bowling's name was listed on the wall. He was killed in action Nov. 17, 1965.

"I did get an etching from the wall," Helkowsky said. "I saved that with the bracelet."

With the advent of personal computers, Helkowsky started doing research online. But it wasn't until this May, while visiting her daughter in Wasilla, Alaska, that their search through Ancestry.com revealed information on Roy's family in San Bernardino, Calif.

"I wrote a short e-mail, (told them) I had the bracelet, and went to bed," she said. "The next morning I checked my mail, lo and behold there was an e-mail from his daughter. She's 51 years old. She sent me a picture of her dad holding her at 2 years old. She never really got to know him. We have been communicating since."

Helkowsky learned Bowling, who went by the name "Hap" for "Happy," was killed Nov. 17, 1965, at the age of 35, when his plane was shot down in North Vietnam. His remains were not sent home until March 1977.

Bowling's widow, now 81, never remarried.

"I'm excited and yet sad at the same time," she said. "I look at pictures and feel so badly for them."

She understands the anguish of having a loved one serving overseas.

When her husband was sent to Thailand for a year during the Vietnam era, "I was a nervous wreck," she said.

Roy's daughter, Merrilee Anker, also had a bracelet with her father's name inscribed on it.

"She wore it so long it kind of fell apart," said Helkowsky.

Helkowsky has decided to send her the bracelet she wore for years.

"I asked her and she was thrilled," she said. "At this point I kind of feel like I know these people. I'm hoping I can keep in touch with them, even if we never get to meet."