DOG TAGS  RETURNED TO VIETNAM VET, GARY “Doc” McKNIGHT

 Ray Milligan, a veteran and retired Chief of Police in Deptford, traveled to Vietnam in 1993 on a medical aid mission and brought home dog tags that were being sold in little shops in Vietnam. Since that time several people have worked on returning these tags, including Jim Six (a Gloucester Cnty Reporter), Gene Lillie (a NJ Accountant) and Bill Gretzmacher, an eagle Scout, who with the help of the VA was able to return approx. 75 tags.

 Last month, Tony Halas, VP of the POW/MIA Awareness Committee (Gloucester & Camden County) was approached about getting the project moving again.  While they are still in the process of sorting through the files, and building a website, some active research has begun.

Two of the dog tags belong to Gary McKnight. After some internet research, Sue Quinn-Morris (POW/MIA ACGC) stumbled across a Gary McKnight who was organizing a reunion. With contact information listed, she called – and after some verification process, it was confirmed that the dog tag she had was in fact his. A friendship was formed and Gary aka “Doc” began sharing some Vietnam stories and photos –Doc mentioned that his comrades used to call him “Duckey” . Ironically enough, a few days later as Sue was going through the list of the other 400 dog tags, she ran across a tag marked “Duckey McKnight”. After verifying service numbers, it was determined the tag also belonged to Doc. Apparently, one of Docs comrades job was to make up the dog tags – and he was known to make up “special” tags for his buddies – hence why he had one that read “Duckey McKnight”.

The Delaware Valley Chapter of the Nam Knights - a veterans and law enforcement motorcycle club - complete the the Dog Tag Project by organizing and hand delivering the dog tags to the Vietnam veterans. Nam Knights of Americas Triboro Chapter and the Delaware Valley Chapter both participated in Doc's dog tag return, along side of Tony Halas (POW/MIA ACGC VP) and Ray Milligan (retired Chief of Police who found dog tags in Vietnam). The return took place at the Annual Nam Knights Car & Bike Show on May 2nd in Carlsbadt, NJ.

 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

May 2010 - DOG TAGS  RETURNED TO VIETNAM VET, Larry Lichtenstein - In February 2010, Tony Halas, VP of the POW/MIA Awareness Committee (Gloucester & Camden County) was asked to get involved in the Dog Tag Project. The mission of the project is to return dog tags that were found....read full story

 -----------------------------------------------------------------------------

Feb 2010 - DOG TAG FOUND IN VIETNAM TO BE RETURNED TO FAMILY ON THE ANNIVERSARY OF MARINES DEATH. - Touring the Ho Chi Minh trail in 1998, Wall Street trader Manny Santayana stumbled onto a Vietnamese man who made a living out of extracting bombs from the ground, grinding up the metal and selling it for profit. Sometime he would stumble upon dog tags from U.S. soldiers, which he would collect and store in an ammo bag under his bed. ..read full story

 Sue Quinn-Morris - Squinn9807@aol.com