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Vietnam vet getting dog tag back 48 years later

This 2015 photo provided by BNY Mellon shows a dog tag from the Vietnam War identifying U.S. Marine R. A. Tilghman, Jr. While vacationing in Vietnam in 2014, Charles Thompson purchased the tag from a local vendor thinking he could find and return it to its owner. After more than a year of research, he located Richard Tilghman, of New Canaan, Conn. (Charles Thompson/BNY Mellon via AP)
This 2015 photo provided by BNY Mellon shows a dog tag from the Vietnam War identifying U.S. Marine R. A. Tilghman, Jr. While vacationing in Vietnam in 2014, Charles Thompson purchased the tag from a local vendor thinking he could find and return it to its owner. After more than a year of research, he located Richard Tilghman, of New Canaan, Conn. (Charles Thompson/BNY Mellon via AP)

By Associated Press 1 min read

HARTFORD, Conn. (AP) – An ex-Marine from Connecticut is getting one of his dog tags back, nearly 50 years after losing it during the Vietnam War.

Richard Tilghman Jr., of New Canaan, will receive the tag Thursday morning in New York City during a Fox News show.

Charles Thompson, of Weybridge, England, found Tilghman’s tag in October 2014 while vacationing in Vietnam. He says he bought it for about $3 from a man selling war artifacts, with the hope of finding its owner.

Thompson says he determined the tag belonged to Tilghman through Internet searches and contacted him in December.

Tilghman served in Vietnam in 1968 and came home with one of his two tags. He says he doesn’t remember losing the one Thompson found.