While serving in the U.S. Army during World War II, the father of Maurine Carethers-Tate lost his dog tag. He had hoped to recover the tag for his daughter but was unable to do so before he passed away in 1983. Just last week, Carethers-Tate finally managed to locate her father’s keepsake.
Surprisingly, the missing identification tag turned up in Wales—over 3,000 miles from Carethers-Tate’s home in Detroit, Michigan.
Barrie Jones, 52, and his daughter actually discovered the tag near their U.K. home about eight years ago, but their efforts to find its owner proved fruitless. Recent media publicity about the tag helped to reignite their search.
After a newspaper in Wales published a story about the Jones family’s lucky find, the Detroit Free Press learned about the tag, which is inscribed with the words “Detroit Mich” and “Carethers.” The paper then got in touch with Maurine Carethers-Tate.
Prior to the D-Day landing, American soldiers trained in Wales, perhaps explaining the seemingly bizarre site of the tag’s discovery. However, the explanation hardly matters to Carethers-Tate. She broke down in tears when she saw the picture of her father’s tag in the paper.
Barrie Jones says that he is happy to return the tag to her. Carethers-Tate ultimately plans to give the precious family memento to her 25-year-old son, who never met his grandfather.