Veteran’s dog tags return from Vietnam

MARION, IL (KFVS) – Lost for more than 40 years, Marion Veteran Tommy Hartwell’s dog tags are back in his hands.

Hartwell was drafted at 19 years old, in 1968 and sent straight to Vietnam after his basic training with the U.S. Army’s 101st Airborne, as a combat engineer.

But, the hot muggy climate in Vietnam made wearing his dog tags around his neck uncomfortable.

“I wore one tag on my right boot in the laces. And then I carried one in my pocket,” said Hartwell.

“I didn’t wear it around my neck, I always felt it was going to snag on something.”

Hartwell lost the one in his pocket in 1969 somewhere near Hue City, Vietnam. He lost the other dog tag on his boot laces when he returned to the United States.

“I’d always regretted I didn’t have one. I knew I’d lost the one in Oakland when I was processing out of the service. But this one, I had no idea where it was.”

Tommy had written them off, with them being so far away, and no place to begin looking for them.

But, a couple of weeks ago a letter from the military forensics lab on Hawaii. In the letter was a notice that one of Hartwell’s dog tags had been found, amongst more than 1,440 tags returned from Vietnam in 1994.

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