Brendan Patrick Foley
Colonel
11TH TAC RECON SQDN, 432ND TAC RECON WING, 7TH AF
United States Air Force
New York, New York
March 27, 1932 to October 09, 1980
(Incident Date November 24, 1967)
BRENDAN P FOLEY is on the Wall at Panel 30E, Line 77

7thaf.gif
432ndtrw.gif
11thtrs.gif
usafpilot.gif
 
phambase.gif
 

 
10 Jun 2004

My grandmother Nelva Peffer passed away May 2004. My sister, uncle and I spent 4 days going through her belongings, and this POW bracelet was among them. A flood of memories came back to me, as I remembered wearing my own bracelet in 1973-4 at the age of 7, and breaking it in two when "my guy Jack" returned...

We lived in Dayton, Ohio as my dad was a doctor doing a 2 year service at Wright Patterson Air Force Base in the military hospital. My mother got her bracelet first, and then I remember that she offered one to me, but I had to pay the 2 dollars myself. I am assuming that my grandmother got her bracelet in the same way, but with much different feeling than a 2nd grader. You see, Nelva Peffer was a true patriot. Born only 12 years before Col. Foley, she saw over half her male high school classmates on casualty lists during WW II. She joined the American Legion Auxillary and was an active member. She supported all the military men who served our nation, perhaps in memory of the close friends she lost. I believe that even though Nelva didn't wear her bracelet in the end, it was secured in a safe corner of her jewelry box, she would never let it go until she was sure her soldier had returned. I immediately put Brendan Foley's bracelet on and returned to my home in Germany.

My hope was to find that he was alive, but after checking the Vietnam War Memorial lists, I was heartbroken to find that he was MIA in Laos. I researched his bio and found out he was believed to be a POW and may still be alive, but presumed dead. What a huge sadness has come over me at this news, and some anger that we cannot retrieve what should be rightfully returned. Thus, I have been researching websites to find relatives of Col. Foley's family. The bracelet gave me great hope for the 2 weeks that I had it on my wrist, and I shall continue to wear it until I have the opportunity to break it in half on his return or send it to the family of Brendan Patrick Foley.

Kirstan Boettger
Hamburg, Germany
E-mail address is not available.

FoleyBP01d.jpg


 
24 Mar 2006

I have Col Foley's bracelet and have worn it since the 80s.
I served in the U.S. Army and was in Vietnam 68-69.
I feel being a Vietnam vet should make us brothers.
I hope one day his remains may finally be returned home.
So here is a big salute. I think of him always.

Willis Kortright
wkortright@msn.com


 

A Note from The Virtual Wall

On the night of 23/24 Nov 1967 an RF-4C (tail number 65-0844) of the 11th Tactical Reconnaissance Squadron was lost while on a weather recon mission over North Vietnam. While one report suggests the aircraft went down over the Plain of Jars in Central Laos, no wreckage was ever found. The two crewmen were classed as Missing in Action and remained in that status until the Secretary of the Air Force approved Presumptive Findings of Death for them on the dates indicated:
  • Col Brendan P. Foley, New York, NY (10/09/1980)
  • Capt Ronald M. Mayercik, Edison, NJ (07/28/1977)
Their remains have not been recovered.

Contact Us © Copyright 1997-2019 www.VirtualWall.org, Ltd ®(TM) Last update 08/15/2019.