TAMPA, Fla. — Friday marks Military Spouse Appreciation Day and there is a 91-year-old woman visiting from California whose impact during the Vietnam War helped create policies that military spouses across the country continue to embrace today.
When Pat Mearns was first written about in Life Magazine back in 1969 she’d have no idea that her legacy would continue into 2023.
Mearns and her Daughter Missy think back to those 11 years when they didn’t know if their husband and father, fighter pilot Arthur Mearns, was dead or alive.
“Art had been shot down over North Vietnam and they saw him alive in his parachute and that’s the last they knew of him,” said Mearns.
“My sister and I, we really missed our dad, and I think we constantly asked her when is he coming home, and there were no answers for that,” said Missy.
Mearns, along with other military wives across the country, began speaking out.
“I went to Washington after writing a letter to each congressman and asking for a session with them to tell them about what was going on with POWs and MIAs,” said Mearns.
It’s the story of these women that has been captured by authors Judy Gray and Taylor Kiland in the newly released book, “Unwavering.” Gray is from Tampa.
“As women, we owe them a debt of gratitude and as Americans, they changed the course of history because they took a part of American policy and put it into action, and that was leave no man behind,” said Gray.
“They made the fate of our missing and captive men an absolute national priority,” said Taylor.
These authors, along with Mearns, are now traveling the country promoting the book, including a special signing at Oxford Exchange in Tampa on Thursday night at 6:30 p.m.
“The book is instructive in that it tells us that those without a voice can really have a voice and make a difference,” said Gray.
For more information, go to www.unwaveringbook.com.
