Bracelet keeps MIA on Norfolk man’s mind for 25 years

(EXCERPT) Steve Blum of Norfolk bought a POW/MIA bracelet carrying the
name of Petty Officer 2nd Class Michael L. Roberts. He vowed to wear
the bracelet until the man came home. Blum learned this summer that
Roberts’ remains had been found and identified in Laos. PHOTO BY MARK
MITCHELL / THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT., by JACK DORSEY, The Virginian-Pilot ©
November 10, 2003

CHESAPEAKE — When Steve Blum paid $2 in 1978 for a POW/MIA bracelet to
honor Vietnam-era servicemen, he was told to wear it until the person
came home.

“I wore it when it was a fad,” Blum said. “I wore it when it wasn’t a
fad. I wore it when I got in trouble. I wore it with my uniform, even
when I was told not to because it was nonmilitary.”

For 25 years, Blum, of Norfolk, wore the simple metal bracelet — one
of 5 million that flooded the nation beginning on Veterans Day 1970 —
engraved with the name of “AD2 Michael L. Roberts,” a 23-year-old
petty officer second class from Purvis, Miss., who had been declared
missing in action in 1968. Roberts was an aviation ordnanceman.

Blum never took the bracelet off until this past August, when he
learned that Roberts’ remains had been found in Laos and identified.
It was more than three decades since he had been declared missing.

“It was really hard to give up the bracelet,” Blum said. “You wear
something so long, you know. For the longest time, I had a tan line
around my wrist.”

Blum, 43, now a car salesman at Priority Chevrolet in Chesapeake, was
in the N...

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