Bryce Lacy is a 19-year-old attending Sam Houston State University. But he recently returned home to Richmond, Texas, to see his dad for the weekend. His father, Charles, is a Vietnam veteran and decided to show his son some old military photos from his time in the army. One man was present in nearly all of the photos, an old buddy of his named Kermit Powers.
Charles said that the two kept in touch for a couple of years after the war, but in an age before Facebook, it was easy to lose touch with people and it has been about 40 years since the two of them last spoke. So Bryce decided to take to Facebook to see if he could use the power of the Internet to reunite the two. The teenager shared a photo of them, along with some details, in a tweet that has since been shared more than 55,000 times.
hey can y'all retweet this, it's my dad & his old bestfriend when they served in the Vietnam War together, i want to find him pic.twitter.com/Ub2MZDDNuB
— bryce (@brycelacy) April 8, 2017
The Internet turned detective, and the first clue came when someone found a 2004 obituary for Evelyn Kelly Powers, mentioning that she had a son named Kermit.
@brycelacy Per "America's News" NewsBank subscription via SF Public Library, this is the June 6, 2004 obit. Mentions "Kermit Powers, of Germany". pic.twitter.com/pmGQAssZyH
— Martha Bridegam (@MBridegam) April 8, 2017
Another Twitter user was able to find a LinkedIn account, but which only showed the man's full name, the fact that he was retired, and a location: Germany.
@brycelacy @chelseaperetti Found this guy on linkedin. Doesn't look like an active account but the Germany part might help pic.twitter.com/xiQ6NMGKNL
— Evan Smith (@sdnave) April 8, 2017
And Germany seemed to be a common theme in every social media account that people could dig up.
@brycelacy Bryce is this him? @powerskermit7
— Jillian Hurley (@BeautyBind) April 9, 2017
In Germany pic.twitter.com/ftv50GqwN5
A Facebook account showed an old photo of a man in military uniform, and also had a German phone number included in the profile's "About" section. But when Bryce called the number, it went straight to the answering machine.
@brycelacy this him??? pic.twitter.com/frJTopQmgx
— Taylor (@TayylorAshlee) April 8, 2017
Still determined to find his dad's buddy, the Internet suggested further means of reaching him.
@brycelacy doesn't look like his page is very active. I would look through his friends and reach out to his family that use Facebook more!
— Taylor (@TayylorAshlee) April 8, 2017
@brycelacy @PFTompkins Hi! I work for the National Archives and I'd be happy to help you find his record
— Cara Moore (@carable8) April 9, 2017
@brycelacy @melaninhealing To https://t.co/rWoE7HATAH which is a military database that may help you find additional info about him
— Geminist (@UrbanGem) April 8, 2017
And it looks like one of those methods worked, because on Monday, Bryce got a message from the inactive Kermit Powers Facebook account. Powers said that he'd also been trying to reach Charles since they lost touch, and included a Skype name and email to contact him on.
He's excited, & said that he has been looking for my dad for over 40 years, thanks for all of the help that everyone contributed this wknd!
— bryce (@brycelacy) April 10, 2017
After class finished on Monday, Bryce contacted Powers on Skype to confirm everything and helped set up a video call for him and his father on Tuesday.
I just got off of skype with Mr. Powers, he couldn't believe we found him. He's really happy about getting to talk to his old friend tmrw
— bryce (@brycelacy) April 10, 2017
Bryce told Buzzfeed that his dad was "surprised" that he'd been able to contact Powers. "My mom will have to download Skype so they can talk," he added. Keep it up, Internet. You're doing great.
