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The other night, I did something I never even knew I wanted to do – I looked up the name Capt. Dean St. Pierre on the Vietnam Memorial Virtual Wall.

Many, many moons ago, I acquired an aluminum POW/MIA bracelet with St. Pierre’s name on it. I was in college at the time, attending Miami University, a fine Midwestern institution in my hometown Oxford, Ohio. I didn’t know much about the war, back then; I’d bet my paycheck (that’s not a lot, so don’t get excited) I know a whole lot more now, but even in that era of national unrest, with its war protests, Kent State and riots in Detroit, I thought it was “cool” to wear a reminder that somebody had gone missing in the fray; to show that I cared.

That bracelet stayed on my wrist through freshman English, taught by a professor who wanted us to interpret poetry using sex phrases. The next year, police were called in to end a sit-in at the ROTC building, only to end up tear-gassing a couple making out in a tree.

The bracelet stayed on through my trip to Navy Officers Candidate School in Rhode Island – don’t get the wrong idea here; I went with a date – until the bracelet broke in two. Even then, I wore it a couple more years, held together with duct tape.

Relegated to my jewelry box, that old bracelet came to mind while writing about the replica Vietnam Memorial Wall coming to town and causing such a stir. I’d always had a sneaky suspicion that the sale of the bracelets to help military families may just have used a few fake names. Imagine my surprise, when, through the magic of computers, I was looking at some of Capt. St. Pierre’s official papers.

While I was busy attending football games and trying to stay awake in class, Dean was flying second seat in an F-4 fighter jet. I was looking forward to summer break when he was shot down May 22, 1968, over Quang Binh Province, in North Vietnam. The wreckage was found; his body never was.

He was 26.

Reading a memorial letter from one of Dean’s family friend, I couldn’t stem a tide of tears. The man whose name was on that now ultra-cool bracelet was from Kankakee, Ill., and had been a swim coach at the local “Y.” He’d graduated Western Illinois University and married his girlfriend, Linda. He was a very real person, who really gave his life in service to his country.

I will go to the traveling wall in North Naples, find his name and touch it. I may even send the bracelet to Linda.

But what will you do?

No one I can think of wants us to be at war; simply put, war is hell on earth. But – and that’s a biggie – no matter what the reason we become involved in a conflict, whether one believes the reason is good, bad or ugly, we must all appreciate and support those who go into battle on our behalf.

There is only one word to describe anyone who does not -- un-American.