The
Bluffton Blufft n Sun July 1, 2025 • Volume 28, Issue 13 • Complimentary • BlufftonSun.com
Bluffton earns state preservation award 6A
One woman’s quest to honor MIA soldier from Vietnam War By Sasha Sweeney Editor
When Kathy Strong was 12, she received a POW/MIA bracelet engraved with the name of Green Beret Sgt. 1st Class James Leslie Moreland, missing since Feb. 7, 1968, during the Vietnam War from her parents. The POW/MIA bracelet movement began in 1970 by college students with Voices in Vital America (VIVA) as a student-led reminder: wear the bracelet bearing servicemen’s names until the soldier was returned or was accounted for. Approximately five million were distributed between 1970 and 1973. “Everyone in my seventh grade English class had one, every single student.” said Strong. While the fad faded in the mid1970s, Strong’s solitary vigil endured—and blossomed into a national tribute. “I really didn’t know anything at all about him for over two years and then in 1975 my mom wrote to VIVA asking for more information and they sent me a short biography and a photo of him” She pledged never to remove her bracelet until he returned—alive or not. She wore it for 38 years. Her vow began Christmas Day 1972 and ended May 14, 2011, when Moreland’s remains were positively identified and returned to his family. “That was a very emotional moment. I went to the funeral home, and, with the family’s permission, I took off the bracelet. Since I had worn it on my left wrist I placed it on the left sleeve of his full dressed uniform, so that he could wear it on the same spot where I had been wearing it all those years.” After returning Moreland’s bracelet to his uniform at his funeral, Strong’s mission grew. “I fulfilled my childhood promise.” Strong said, “Then, over the course of the next year, I just felt like there was some-
Independance Day celebrations
3BA
Snakes of the Lowcountry 14A
thing more I should be doing to honor him. I wanted to do something more to make sure that he was not forgotten.” She resolved to honor him not only in her own remembrance, but also publicly—by placing engraved bricks for him at veteran’s memorials in all 50 states. Her journey began modestly, with the first brick in Ocean Springs, Miss., at a Vietnam veterans park near a cousin’s home. Encouraged by that first placement, she continued, quietly installing bricks. In February 2008, the 40th anniversary of the battle at Lang Vei and 35 years after she started wearing her bracelet, a local news story prompted Moreland’s younger sister, Linda, to contact her. Within months, Strong traveled to Seattle and met both Moreland sisters. Family connection deepened at later ceremonies. In Edmonds, Wash., a brick placement drew three generations of the Moreland fami-
ly—James’s sisters, niece and grand-niece. Along the way, Strong has encountered moments she describes as predestined. During her first brick ceremony in Bowl-
BRICKS CONT. ON PAGE 3A
Bluffton couple reflects 40A on decades of service