This week’s blog will be a little different than most. With this one I’m asking for some North Central West Virginia community help to reunite a person’s family with what is likely a unique piece of history.

 

Actually, this is not my first attempt. Many years ago, I attempted to do this on my personal Facebook page, and it went in a direction I did not want. Granted, it was earlier in the era of the occasional cesspool that is social media, but when I was sent information and began contacting, I got more scams in response than answers.

 

So now, I am trying it here with a much larger audience.

 

The item in question dates back to the early 1970s. It is at that time my father, Tony Toquinto came into possession of a metal bracelet. On it is the name of service member.

 

As it turns out, and as my father pointed out, they were common during the Vietnam War. When he gave it to me several years ago when trying to locate the individual or a family member, he was under the impression the bracelets were given out as Prisoner of War or Missing in Action bracelets made typically of nickel or copper.

 

The reason? Our AI friend on Google says it was done to raise awareness and remember the servicemen captured or missing in action. On each one was engraved with the name, rank, and loss date of an American serviceman.

 

My father’s bracelet that he has had in his possession for more than half a century, has a blue star on it. That led back to a second Google search.

 

This time, it was more specific. A Vietnam bracelet with a blue star on it, or a blue star attached to one (which appears to be the one my father has as it is a sticker), was an indication the soldier whose name appears on the bracelet returned home safely. The sticker was to have been placed on the bracelet by the owner once they returned home. My father could not recall doing that, but the sticker was there.

 

Understand, these bracelets were, from the best I can tell, made during a three-year span from 1970 to 1973. In fact, there were large quantities produced so they are not a scarce item. That said, other than the one my father gave me and pictured here, I have never seen one before.

 

When we looked before, we were hopeful there was a local connection. And before searching for it this time my father was not sure such was the case.

 

“For the longest time I thought it was somebody from Clarksburg. I thought that when I first got it, but I don’t necessarily think that’s the case,” my father said. “It would be nice to find the relatives of the person, a son or daughter.”

 

After starting again, it was not long before I found the local connection.

 

The name on the bracelet is Maj. H.K. Flesher. The date is 12-2-66. My Google search, or probably a Yahoo search years ago, gave me some of the same information I got this week. This time, there was substantially more, including an obituary, which leads me to about a 100 percent certainty of the individual’s information listed below and photo that is included is the person for which the bracelet was made.

 

The person is likely Hubert K. “Bud” Flesher. He was a prisoner of war from 1966 to 1973, which would match up with the 1966 date on the bracelet.

 

As for being local, online information, including the obituary, lists his birthplace as Weston, West Virginia. His birth date is listed as Dec. 19, 1932.

 

Flesher, however, passed away less than a year ago, and if my math is correct he was 92. The date of his passing was Sept. 22, 2024. The obituary also notes Flesher was also a graduate of Washington Irving High School. He retired with his wife in Fredericksburg, Texas and finished his military career as a Lieutenant Colonel with a bevy of military accolades.

 

During his start in southeast Asia in 1966, he was as an F-4 pilot serving with the 480th Tactical Fighter Squadron at the Da Nang Air Force Based in South Vietnam. On Dec. 2 of that year, he became a POW after being forced to eject over North Vietnam. He was a POW for an astounding 2,271 days – leaving captivity in February of 1973.

 

That, now, leads me back to the community. Does anyone know the family? Does anyone know anyone associated with the name or the family? As noted, while it seems a little simpler, I want – and my father’s eyes told me it is a need – that if given away it needs to definitely be in the family’s hands.

 

This is not for publicity. This is not for money. This is something my father wants to get in the hands of a family member who saw their loved one served in a war where few things at the time – such as this bracelet – was done in support of those who fought a war thousands of miles away.

 

“I’d like it to get it to someone in the family. The only thing I want the family to know is where I’m from and that I’m grateful and the people I know are grateful for the fact that he served,” my father ended.

 

Now the ball is in your court. If you have information, send it to jeff@connect-bridgeport.com. Hopefully, if the family would like this, we can get it to them.

 

Editor's Note: Top photo is of the bracelet, while a photo that ran with Lt. Col. Flesher's obituary is shown below.