GRAND FORKS - During his visit to Grand Forks on Thursday, Sen. John McCain took a minute to talk to a woman who has known his name for more than 40 years but who had never met him.
Jane Olson, who works for UND's School of Aerospace Sciences, greeted McCain, R-Ariz., during his tour of the school's facility at the Grand Forks airport by showing him the bracelet bearing his name. She got it as a high school student and wore it in support of the Navy pilot during his five years as a prisoner of war during the Vietnam War.
Bracelets bearing the names of service members have been worn to show support for POWs or to remember those killed in wars.
McCain embraced Olson, and signed her copy of his book, "Faith of My Fathers." Though she had exchanged emails with him during his 2008 presidential campaign, she had never met him.
"I am really moved," Olson said.
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McCain also wears a bracelet given to him by a soldier's mother while campaigning in New Hampshire in 2006. He said he occasionally hears from people like Olson who first learned his name with a POW bracelet.
"These people were young people then. They didn't know who I was," he said after greeting Olson. "It's very touching."
