On July 3, 1991, the Bremerton Progress featured a guest article by Vietnam combat veteran Marc Waszkiewicz, who was then preparing a documentary about his time in Vietnam for PBS.

Waszkiewicz, a Seabeck native, served in the Marine Corps from 1967-69.

In his guest article, he recounted his recent experience as the keynote speaker for a Denver elementary school. A fourth-grade class, led by their teacher Dick Nahickian had organized a monument and unveiling ceremony in honor of Vietnam veterans.

Waszkiewicz wrote, “I went there to teach and left having learned. I went there to give and left having received.”

He concluded by challenging the Bremerton community to “[recreate] a similar event here in our own backyard. Let’s show our pride for our veterans and teach our children real life lessons of patriotism.”

For the last 20-odd years, Waszkiewicz has pursued that mission. When asked today, he said that the Denver trip started an “explosion” of interest in his projects (which now include the documentary, a memoir and an original soundtrack).

He’s kept in touch with several of the individuals he met in Denver, and reports that the “Denver trip really changed lives.”

Many of those fourth-graders are now veterans themselves — one of the boys he stayed with, now grown, joined the National Guard, did several tours in Iraq and is a sergeant in the Denver Police Department.

Waszkiewicz now lives in Oregon so that he and his project partner, Lea Jones, can continue work on the documentary. He describes Jones as his “political opposite,” but says they work well together.

In a clip from his documentary, Waszkiewicz explains, “I’ve been working on this, my life’s work, for over 25 years. One of the things this project has provided me is a heightened sense of self-esteem. … I have something to say that’s worth hearing.”

Find out more about Waszkiewicz’s projects on his website: www.vietnaminnerview.com.

Also on July 3, 1991, the Progress reported that Bainbridge Island resident Johnnie Cary had “produced a line of modular brassieres for women in the 300- to 1,000-pound range.”

Cary called her line “Cary’s Custom Curves,” and hoped her products would help destigmatize the process of finding a bra for plus-sized women and women who’d had mastectomies.

After years of experimenting, Cary was finally satisfied with her creation. The Progress reported that an unnamed national department store chain had shown interest in buying Cary’s line, and she had acquired a small factory space in downtown Bremerton. There, she would open two dressing rooms and invite women to come in for custom fittings.

Whatever Cary’s ambitions were, the trail disappears soon after the Progress’ 1991 article. But mastectomy bras may now be purchased easily (and cost-effectively) online, and they are often made of foam or gel and coated in a polyurethane exterior to preserve durability.

Cary could not be reached for comment for this column.

— Allison Trunkey is an intern for Sound Publishing in Kitsap County. Contact her at atrunkey@soundpub lishing.com.