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American Morning

Lost Dog Tags From Vietnam War Recovered

Aired July 04, 2001 - 11:17   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
LEON HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR: This is going to be a somber Fourth of July ceremony today at an Orlando cemetery. The mother of a serviceman killed in Vietnam in 1968 is going to be presented with his dog tags.

Two Florida businessmen in Vietnam, scouting out the commercial climate there, came across the dog tags in a back-alley market in Ho Chi Minh city. And one of those men joins us now from Orlando.

He is Rob Stiff.

We thank you very much for coming in this morning.

Now, this is quite an unusual story. You say that you found these dog tags in a store that were -- how much were they being sold for?

ROB STIFF, FOUNDDOGTAGS.COM: Some six, seven for a dollar. But we actually didn't know how much the dog tags cost until we actually returned solely to buy the dog tags.

(CROSSTALK)

HARRIS: As I understand it, though, what you did was, you -- when you saw this one set, it inspired to you go looking for more?

STIFF: Absolutely. Well, like I mentioned earlier, we went in January of this year. And that's when we saw them. We were sickened by what we saw. We had left without buying them. And for four months, we talked about going back just to buy these tags. And, yes, in fact, we did go to other places.

HARRIS: So, what did you do: just walked around town to different shops?

STIFF: Well, we felt it wouldn't be that easy to do that. We actually used the for rickshaw bike driver guys to help us work from the inside, because they speak the language and they know the area. And we felt that was the most efficient way to do it.

HARRIS: And how many did you come across?

STIFF: Approximately 620 we brought back. HARRIS: You brought back 620 dog tags? Do you know whether or not these were all from men who had been killed? Had they been lost or something like that? Do you know more stories about these tags?

STIFF: We're getting a lot of e-mails from our Web site we post at founddogtags.com. But we're learning it as we go. There's many stories.

HARRIS: Are you concerned at all that these -- I know someone has raised the question with you, I know. But are you concerned that some of these might have been fake, actually, and planted there?

STIFF: Well, when you are buying six, seven for a dollar, maybe they are fake, but we don't think so. Another thing is that the question is not, "Are they fake?" but is, "Are they real?" And if in fact they are real, we need to get these back to the families.

HARRIS: Yes. And you are pretty convinced that the ones that you are going to be presenting to this one family today are real. Tell us their story.

STIFF: Well, it was amazing because Jim, the gentleman I went over with on this trip, came into my office one morning and said: "You won't believe this. We have a match to an Allan George Decker, who left Orlando in 1968 and never returned alive."

Now, being from Orlando, we were able to use the office of Congressman Ric Keller to locate the mother, Ruth Decker, who be will receiving the dog tag today on her birthday, where Allan and her husband are buried.

HARRIS: No kidding. What did she say when you called her?

STIFF: She was absolutely amazed, full of joy -- a wonderful woman, a woman who has been through a great deal of life-moving events. And it's going to be -- it's truly a blessing to get it back to her.

HARRIS: Now, did this incident strike you or touch you because of your relations with the military? Did you serve in the military or your partner?

STIFF: Well, no, actually, Jim's father served in Vietnam, whereas I was born -- I'm 27 years old -- I was born the year the war ended. And I really can't relate or begin to even appreciate or understand what these families went through back then.

But all I know is that, if I had a loved one over there that had a dog tag, I would want it back.

HARRIS: And you have come up now with 620. Are they all legible? Is it easy to figure out what -- I know they have got to be somewhat beaten up a bit. It's been quite a few years.

STIFF: Yes, actually, some were -- over 30 years been lying around there in this Saigon area. Most of them are quite legible. About 400 of the 620 are.

HARRIS: And let's see. Let's get that Web site once again. You have a Web site where people can go and check and see whether or not the dog tags they may be looking for can be found.

STIFF: Absolutely. It's www.founddogtags.com.

HARRIS: That is an amazing story. And that is an amazing find. And this is going to be an even more amazing afternoon when you do reunite this family -- at least in memory -- there with their loved one.

We thank you very much for your time, Rob Stiff. Good luck to you down the road.

STIFF: Thank you for having us on.

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