In 1972, when I was a college freshman, a group came to my small private college in West Virginia selling POW/MIA bracelets, handing out information and stirring up a loyalty for our country, that my young heart had never felt. I selected Allan Kennedy's bracelet because the date of loss was one day after my birthday. I could only think of myself enjoying the afterglow of birthday parties and gifts, while in a foreign country that I knew very little about a young man was lost in action while serving his country. I wore that bracelet for more than 10 years, each day praying for his safe return or at least the peace that his family would know when they learned his fate. I guess I finally put it in my jewelry box shortly after the birth of my second child. A part of me felt that now my life was changing dramatically and it was time for me to set aside the things of my youth. But I never forgot Allan Kennedy, or the family that awaited him in California. Every day when I opened that jewelry box drawer - I saw that bracelet. I have never forgotten Allan, or any of the young men and women who died for our country. Even today , 29 years after I first put that bracelet on, I am shedding tears as I type this memorial. We love you, Allan Gordon Kennedy God bless you! Seven men died when a UH-1H (hull number 68-16057) belonging to the 192nd Assault Helicopter Company crashed. Four were the crewmen from the 192nd AHC; the other three were passengers assigned to the 155th AHC: CPT Alfonso Roque Castro, pilot CW2 John Steven Anderson, pilot SP6 Allan Gordon Kennedy, gunner SSG Marion Lee Roach, crew chief SSG Rick Eggburtus Medaris, passenger, 155th AHC SSG John Allen Payne, passenger, 155th AHC SP5 Richard Gene Bauer, passenger, 155th AHC The crash site was located in 1973 and the remains of all seven men were recovered. SP6 Allan Gordon Kennedy 192nd AHC, 1st Aviation Brigade United States Army was buried on 14 September 1973 in Plot B 32-A, San Francisco National Cemetery San Francisco, San Francisco County, CA, among other men of courage and integrity.

 

A memorial from one who wore his MIA bracelet, Brenda Barnett firewall@citynet.net  24 May 2001 . 10 Dec 2001

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