WATCH — Vietnam Veteran’s Dog Tag Lost in 1966 Returned to Family: ‘We Are So Thankful’

Marine Corporal Larry Hughes served in Vietnam, but he never said anything about his missing dog tag.

His son, Carl Hughes, called him a humble man who never spoke about his time in the military, Fox 13 reported Friday.

His family says getting his dog tag back from halfway around the world, after decades and decades, from a place that used to be enemy territory, is a lesson for us all. https://t.co/6lTl3HidT5

— FOX 13 Tampa Bay (@FOX13News) February 18, 2023

In 1966, the Marine’s dog tag vanished while he was serving near the Da Nang Province. Video footage shows Marines clearing rice paddies in the area while jets fly overhead:

Thanks to a group of special people, the Marine’s dog tag is no longer lost.

In October, while former Virginia Senator Jim Webb and Notre Dome Professor Michael Desch guided students through Da Nang, they were shocked to find it.

At one point during the trip, they were near an airstrip previously used by Americans when a villager told them he had picked up several dog tags while plowing the rice fields.

The man kept one on a keychain, therefore, Desch asked if the group might take it home.

Per the U.S. Department of Defense, newspaper magnate William Randolph Hearst was the first to coin the term “dog tag”:

Hearst wanted to undermine support for President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s New Deal. He had heard the newly formed Social Security Administration was considering giving out nameplates for personal identification. According to the SSA, Hearst referred to them as “dog tags” similar to those used in the military.

Meanwhile, Webb discovered that Corporal Hughes had passed away. However, his son and sister still lived in Inglis, Florida, and Webb delivered the dog tag to the family on Friday.

“I couldn’t believe it. It was like a step back in time,” the man’s sister, Patricia Hughes Prickett, commented.

“I was always so proud of Larry. There was never a moment when I was not proud of him. And I’m just glad that he’s been recognized,” she added.

An image shows relatives with a plaque and the dog tag displayed in a shadowbox:

“My grandfather Larry A. Hughes, has recived his dogtags back from Vietnam this morning. He passed away 2019 but we are so thankful to receive them along with a plaque to honor his service in the marine corps,” wrote Jewel Hughes.