Dog tag lost in World War I returned to soldier's son

reuters via Yahoo ^ | Jan 13, 2012 | Kevin Murphy

[Daffynition]

KANSAS CITY, MO (Reuters) - Somehow, maybe in a struggle to remove his helmet, Kent Potter lost his dog tag on a French battlefield in World War I.

Private Potter, who worked on an Army supply train that consisted mostly of mules and horses, survived the war and returned home to Kansas without the tag, which remained buried for more than 90 years.

At a ceremony hosted in the small town of Cottonwood Falls on Thursday, however, the worn, round metal tag finally landed back with the Potter family thanks to the efforts of two Frenchmen.

[momtothree]

Thank you so much, 9422WMR. I bookmarked it and will start the procedure this weekend. HUGS to you!

[momtothree]

Thank you so much, 9422WMR. I bookmarked it and will start the procedure this weekend. HUGS to you!

[momtothree]

I am very impressed and pleased that such honor was given to the remains... even if it was a wallet. It was priceless to the family.

[Daffynition]

The Merci Train

[Daffynition]

Greeted by waves of Air Force planes, fireboats with columns of spraying water, and a flotilla of small boats, the ship Magellan, with the message on its hull, Merci, America, docked at Weehawken, New Jersey. President Truman had signed into law a special resolution permitting the train and its cargo to enter the United States duty free. Since the wheels on the French train were eight inches wider than American rails, the 40 ET 8s were transported on flatcars for their journey across the United States.

In the next several weeks, each state held parades and ceremonies welcoming a French representative and their designated boxcar.

[exit82]

SunkenCiv,over here.

[Yorlik803]

Not A problem. If you have trouble, also try the VA...and last resort contact your Senator.
Good luck again....keep me updated.

[real saxophonist]

I have my dad’s WWII dog tag, on display next to my own.

[nutmeg]

bookmark

[markman46]

bump

[Radagast the Fool]

You know, it’s funny, I had always heard that Parisians were very rude to tourists-and yet my experience was just the opposite. Everyone, every where was great-they gave me directions, showed me how to use the automated metro/rail pass kiosks, helped me with my bad French and made sure they got help with their bad English!
I did find the BEST people to ask for directions were teenagers-most of them speak pretty decent English. The hardest thing about that, though, was that they were pretty hard to distinguish from American teenagers, ie., they all had a cellphone in one hand and an i-pod-type thing in the other!

[stylecouncilor]

Thanks for the link.

[Little Bill]

The Canadians have great resources for WW1, thanks Clive, I am still looking for a pic of my mothers father in kilts, Canadian Black Watch, the rangy, bone thin, Northern Irish look.

[LifePath]

When I visited France for the first time in 2002, my brother and our wives traveled to the American cemetary at Belleau Wood, site of a Marine battle against the Germans in June (I think), 1918. About 4000-5000 Americans are buried there. I have a great-uncle who died in that battle and is buried at Belleau Wood.

My brother and I wanted to do a charcoal tracing of his grave marker. While we were doing this, three French groundskeepers were mowing the grass nearby. When they saw what we were doing, they stopped, shut off the mowers, and all held their hats over their hearts until we were done.

This was just months after 9/11. When I entered France I was all prepared to hate the French. I found that I could not do it.

[packrat35]

ping for later

[Radagast the Fool]

Nice story! I’m glad you were able to visit the American cemetery, and made a tracing of your great-uncle’s grave stone. Such a wonderful thing to be able to do. I’m sure you treasure it. God Bless him, as well as those groundskeepers—and you, too!!

I’ve often thought there’s such a history of goodness between us and the French, from Lafayette helping us during our Revolution and France’s magnificent gift of the Statue of Liberty, to our sacrifices there in WWI and II. Sure, the French leaders do crappy things sometimes, just like ours do, but there’s something else going on between our two peoples, at a deeper level. I don’t know what it is-but there’s goodness there.

[Tijeras_Slim]

Great stories, thanks to you both.

[SunkenCiv]

GGG managers are SunkenCiv, StayAt HomeMother & Ernest_at_the_Beach	join list or digest view topics view or post blog bookmark post a topic subscribe
Thanks exit82. Just adding to the catalog, not sending a general distribution. To all -- please ping me to other topics which are appropriate for the GGG list.