Pretty remarkable.
Vietnam veteran Jim Schweickert holds a gold watch, given to him for safe keeping in August of 1967, by another soldier he did not know well who was heading out on a mission in Vietnam. The soldier, Frank Cook, did not come back and then Schweickert was called out on a mission and then finished his tour and was shipped home. For the longest time Schweickert thought the soldier had been killed but just recently he found out that Frank Cook was still alive and Schweickert, who lives in California came to Albany to return the watch. "For all this time Frank Cook was my MIA, I've been looking for a family member to pass the watch on to but now I've found Frank alive and returning this watch to him will give me some closure on my time in the Vietnam War" Schweickert said. (Paul Buckowski / Times Union)
ALBANY — Two weeks ago, Jim Schweickert loaded up his Lexus with enough clothes to last him a month and a 53-year-old gold watch he's never worn.
The watch belongs to a man he had met only once, on a hot summer morning in 1967 when the young soldier entrusted Schweickert with his family keepsake before disappearing into the dense Vietnamese jungle. Schweickert never knew the man's name. When the man didn't return from the mission, Schweickert assumed he had died.
Last month, after decades of scouring the country for the family of the watch's owner, Schweickert finally deciphered the mysterious soldier's name — and learned that he's alive and well in Albany.
Vietnam veteran Jim Schweickert holds a gold watch, given to him for safe keeping in August of 1967, by another soldier he did not know well who was heading out on a mission in Vietnam. The soldier, Frank Cook, did not come back and then Schweickert was called out on a mission and then finished his tour and was shipped home. For the longest time Schweickert thought the soldier had been killed but just recently he found out that Frank Cook was still alive and Schweickert, who lives in California came to Albany to return the watch. "For all this time Frank Cook was my MIA, I've been looking for a family member to pass the watch on to but now I've found Frank alive and returning this watch to him will give me some closure on my time in the Vietnam War" Schweickert said. (Paul Buckowski / Times Union)
ALBANY — Two weeks ago, Jim Schweickert loaded up his Lexus with enough clothes to last him a month and a 53-year-old gold watch he's never worn.
The watch belongs to a man he had met only once, on a hot summer morning in 1967 when the young soldier entrusted Schweickert with his family keepsake before disappearing into the dense Vietnamese jungle. Schweickert never knew the man's name. When the man didn't return from the mission, Schweickert assumed he had died.
Last month, after decades of scouring the country for the family of the watch's owner, Schweickert finally deciphered the mysterious soldier's name — and learned that he's alive and well in Albany.
