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Ernest C. Brace
On July 17, 2013, the Secretary of the Navy signed off on awarding Ernest C. Brace the POW and Purple Heart Medals for his time as a POW in Laos/Vietnam.
The awards were sent to the U.S. Marine Corps for presentation and will be made Aug. 16, 2013 at the base theater, Kingsley AFB, Klamath Falls, Oregon.
The awards, except for the POW Medal, were originally recommended for Brace by Adm. James B. Stockdale on the POWs return in 1973, but were put on hold because Brace was a civilian at the time of his incarceration. The application was re-presented to SecNavy in 2011 through Senator John McCain’s office and drafted by Capt. Rod Knutson, USN, Retired, a fellow POW.
The presentation will be made on the 62nd anniversary of Brace’s being commissioned a Second Lieutenant in the US Marines on August 16, 1951, the day after he turned 20 years old. The presentation is open to the public.
Brace was the longest held civilian prisoner of war in the Vietnam conflict. His story was told on the National Geographic’s show Locked Up Abroad on April 17 of this year. He was a Vietnam POW for over seven years.
His family has a history in the Copper Corridor area, Dad Cary, Mom Ruth and two sisters moved to Ray in 1951 and eventually the parents moved to Superior and sister Rose (Bradford) to Kearny. Sister Betty lived in Superior and Florence until her death in 1994.
Ernie and his wife reside in Oregon and he enjoys a very active life at the age of 81. He has written two books about his experiences A Code to Keep and Monkey Paw Soup. Both can be ordered from Amazon.com
The docudrama titled Vietnam POWs:McCain and Brace also featured Sen. McCain’s story. He was a military POW and was held captive for five and a half years by the North Vietnamese.
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