Vet Reunited With Lost Tags 48 Years After Battle
LONGMONT, Colo. (CBS4) – Long-awaited closure came for a Vietnam veteran who lives in Longmont when he received his dog tog that was lost on the battlefield nearly 50 years ago.
Bob Allsup, 71, received a letter claiming to have found his 48-year-old dog tag in Vietnam.
"It was really surprising (and) out of the blue," Allsup said. "At first I thought it was spam."
Just a few days later, he received the tag in the mail, stained in the red mud of combat. For Allsup, it was more than just a piece of metal.
"(It's) part of your identity I guess, when you're over there and the events that happened ... the most impactful period of your life."
Allsup said that the tag came off his boot in 1969 the night that he and his platoon were ambushed. The marks on his ankles show where the bullet hit.
"Next thing you know, you're getting shot at," he recalled of the attack. "We were supposed to be the shooters and not get ambushed. But we got ambushed instead."
Allsup's tag is one of 2,300 recovered dog tags that the University of Arizona's Department of Veterans Education and Transition Services is working to return. The project is part of its personal effects program, lead in part by a student and vet himself, Duan Copeland.
"To be able to return this dog tag that has been separated from somebody for 30-40 years, is just an incredible feeling," Copeland said.
The efforts were especially touching to Allsup in thinking of the families of those who fought and did not make it back home.
"They'd like some closure," Allsup said. "And I think that's really important."
The VETS personal effects program is in need of funds for online research and postage. Learn more at vets.arizona.edu. VETS inherited the tags and the project from a dissolved nonprofit organization called Tours of Peace.
Melissa Garcia has been reporting for CBS4 News since March 2014. Find her bio here, follow her on Twitter @MelissaGarciaTV, or send your story idea to mkgarcia@cbs.com.
