Woman Finds Memorial Bracelet On Cape Cod Beach, Sends It To Gold Star Father
BOSTON (CBS) - A discovery on a Cape Cod beach brought together a woman from Falmouth and a Gold Star Father in Oregon. And both believe the connection is far more than blind luck.
Liz Triplett was walking on a Falmouth beach when she found a memorial bracelet.
"I picked it up and I look at it and it had a name engraved and I wiped off some of the sand and all of a sudden I notice a KIA in the corner of it and honestly, I got a tear to my eye," Triplett said.
KIA stands for Killed In Action, the name on the bracelet: Army Specialist John Pelham. When Liz called John's father in Oregon, it wasn't a shock, the family is used to getting messages from friends of their son even two years after his death.
"From people all over the world who say 'Hey I knew your son when,'" Wendall Pelham said.
Specialist Pelham was killed while serving in Afghanistan in 2014.
"This is like the closest to a message in a bottle I've ever gotten, but in a weird way I think it was John, sending a message saying 'Hey, come find me,'" Liz said.
"When Liz called and started explaining what had happened, it didn't, it didn't surprise me, her reaction," Pelham said. "Because I feel that often and I affectionately look up and I go 'Now you're just showing off."
And thanks to that connection the memorial bracelet takes its place in the Pelham's honor room in Portland, Oregon. The family is trying to learn who was wearing the bracelet to honor Specialist Pelham and how it was lost on a Cape Cod beach.
