thedrifter
11-29-05, 11:22 AM
December 05, 2005
Out of the past
Former Marine receives father’s dog tags lost on Guadalcanal
When Tom Vormwald was an active-duty sergeant in the late 1980s, his grandmother told him a little-known story about his father.
Ernest Vormwald was a Marine during World War II. In 1943, Tom’s grandmother received a telegram from the War Department telling her that one of her son’s dog tags had been found on Guadalcanal and that he was missing in action and presumed dead.
It turned out the telegram was misleading.
Ernest Vormwald’s unit was on patrol on Guadalcanal when the Marines decided to bathe in the ocean, Tom Vormwald said. During that swim, Ernest lost both of his dog tags. The War Department found one of them two days later and sent the telegram stateside, despite the fact that Ernest was very much alive.
More than 60 years later, Tom got the other dog tag in the mail.
“I almost fell out of my chair,” Tom said. “I couldn’t believe it because I was the only family member who knew the story of my father’s dog tag.”
An Australian federal police officer named Jeff McDonald mailed the tag to Tom in May.
“It’s the last thing I could do, given the sacrifice his father … made,” said McDonald, who bought the dog tag in a market on Solomon Island and tracked down Tom through the Internet.
Though Tom’s father made it back from Guadalcanal, he died of colon cancer in 1990. Tom’s son graduated boot camp this year and is on active duty at Camp Lejeune, N.C.
Thanks to McDonald’s lucky find on the other side of the world, all three generations of dog tags are in Tom’s hands.
— Beth Zimmerman
Ellie
Out of the past
Former Marine receives father’s dog tags lost on Guadalcanal
When Tom Vormwald was an active-duty sergeant in the late 1980s, his grandmother told him a little-known story about his father.
Ernest Vormwald was a Marine during World War II. In 1943, Tom’s grandmother received a telegram from the War Department telling her that one of her son’s dog tags had been found on Guadalcanal and that he was missing in action and presumed dead.
It turned out the telegram was misleading.
Ernest Vormwald’s unit was on patrol on Guadalcanal when the Marines decided to bathe in the ocean, Tom Vormwald said. During that swim, Ernest lost both of his dog tags. The War Department found one of them two days later and sent the telegram stateside, despite the fact that Ernest was very much alive.
More than 60 years later, Tom got the other dog tag in the mail.
“I almost fell out of my chair,” Tom said. “I couldn’t believe it because I was the only family member who knew the story of my father’s dog tag.”
An Australian federal police officer named Jeff McDonald mailed the tag to Tom in May.
“It’s the last thing I could do, given the sacrifice his father … made,” said McDonald, who bought the dog tag in a market on Solomon Island and tracked down Tom through the Internet.
Though Tom’s father made it back from Guadalcanal, he died of colon cancer in 1990. Tom’s son graduated boot camp this year and is on active duty at Camp Lejeune, N.C.
Thanks to McDonald’s lucky find on the other side of the world, all three generations of dog tags are in Tom’s hands.
— Beth Zimmerman
Ellie