Published August 31, 2010
Curt wore this POW/MIA bracelet for years. (Curt Nicksich/WBUR)
As a kid in Nebraska, WBUR’s Curt Nickisch wore an MIA/POW bracelet to honor a missing service member, Lt. Paul G. Magers, who was shot down over Vietnam in 1971. Curt never knew the man, but he wore the bracelet as a way to honor service and patriotism.
While vacationing in South Dakota this week, Curt made a startling discovery — as described in today’s Billings (Mont.) Gazette story, printed in the Boston Globe:
Nickisch said he always read every story he saw about MIAs. Two weeks ago, scanning headlines on the Web before work, he saw another MIA story and clicked on it.
“Seeing it was Lieutenant Magers — it was a shock,’’ he said.
The story said the remains of First Lieutenant Magers and his gunner from Oklahoma had been positively identified and were going to be returned to their families for burial.
He immediately called his sister in Idaho, even though it was 5 a.m. there. Speaking with her, he soon decided he would go to Billings to attend the funeral, and that he would present the MIA bracelet to members of Magers’s family.
Curt attended the funeral on Thursday and made a brief speech. Cool, huh?