Every once in a while I am asked, “I found some old dog tags… What am I supposed to do with them?” Honestly, I would reply… “I don’t know”.
2. Found military items should not be retained by the finder who is seeking, for whatever reason, to make personal contact with the GI who lost the item, or a member of the GI’s family. By law, found military items must be mailed immediately to:
Secretary of Defense
Room 3E880, The Pentagon
Washington, D.C. 20301
3. The Department of Defense has many resources at its disposal to return and/or preserve lost U.S. military items.
4. When sending items to the Secretary of Defense the finder should include a letter describing the place and circumstances in which the item was found, and the finder’s personal contact information for the Department of Defense investigators:
Finder’s address:
City:
State/Zip:
Phone:
E-Mail:
I would like to also add that while I was gathering information about this post. I happened on an old news article. In a CNN News interview with of two Florida businessmen who went to Hanoi on a business trip. They met a man selling dog tags from U.S. servicemen who were killed during the Viet Nam War. Disgusted by the thought of this. They decided to go back and purchase all the dog tags they could. They returned to Ho Chi Minh City (formerly Saigon) and purchased the dog tags that the locals were selling.
They are attempting to deliver these tags to the persons whose names appear on them. Or their relatives. They set up a Web site for this purpose at FoundDogTags.com. I have personally contacted the Department of Defense to get the “Official Policy” regarding lost and found dog tags. I will post the reply when I receive it.