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View Full Version : Vietnam vet gets back lost dog tags



Kegler300
01-21-03, 03:39 PM
Associated Press

Published Jan. 20, 2003 TAGS20

A Minnesota Vietnam veteran has been reunited with his dog tags more than 30 years after losing them in the war.

Tom Berrigan, 55, of Mountain Iron, was researching genealogy on the Internet when he found his name listed on a Web site called www.founddogtags.com.

The former Marine's tags were among those purchased by two Floridians who found street vendors selling them in Ho Chi Minh City. Jim Gain and Rob Stiff sifted through thousands of dog tags before buying more than 600 they believed were authentic.

Since then, they've been trying to reunite the tags with their former owners or with the families of those who died in the war.

In December, Gov. Jesse Ventura presented the tags to Berrigan in St. Paul.

Berrigan volunteered for the Marines in 1967 two years after graduating from Ely High School.

"I was young and dumb. I got tired of going to college," said Berrigan, now retired after 30 years at Minntac.

"I was fairly gung-ho about the Marines," he said. "Once you're there, you're gung-ho for about one second and then no longer."

After serving a year, Berrigan signed up for another tour. But he became ill with malaria and was sent home. While in the hospital, he said, he lost his dog tags.

When he got them back, he said "it just opened all the floodgates, all the memories."