Thanks to Social Media, Dog Tags of Maine WWII Vet Returning Home
There was a story that broke recently about World War II dog tags discovered in on online marketplace by a former U.S. Navy Corpsman in Australia.
The tags appeared to belong to a man by the name of Benjamin Cox who was originally from Cumberland County and is buried at Mount Sinai Cemetary in Portland.
The Maine Bureau of Veterans' Services and multiple media outlets (such as this one) set out to help get the tag back with the Cox family.
Over the weekend I was overjoyed to receive a DM with some fantastic news,
"I just wanted to reach out to you from the other side of the world in Australia and thank you personally. Back on the 5th of Feb you wrote an article...about the missing dog tags of a WW2 Vet...Well my name is Dan O'Sullivan and I'm the guy who found the dog tags many years ago, and because of your help I am so happy to tell you that yesterday I received an email from a relative of Ben Cox who lives in Georgetown, and thankfully now these dog tags which I have safely taken care of for the last 14 years can finally be delivered back home where they belong."
This goes to show the immense power of social media and people rallying together for a good cause.
O'Sullivan went on to describe how the tags ended up in his possession. He said that back in 2006 he was working as a Flight Paramedic in the Solomon Islands which is where he came across World War II artifacts at a local market. He was told that the tags were dug up on one of the battlefields on the island. O'Sullivan was convicted about the tags ending up as a souvenir and purchased them in hopes of finding their rightful home.
He concluded his message by saying that he would like to personally return the tags to Eunice Cox, a relative of Ben Cox, and plans to raise some money to travel from Australia to Maine so he can conclude his 14-year mission.