William Ritenour Dog Tag Return
Retired Police Chief William “Bill” T. Ritenour will soon be getting a piece of his past back. Something dating back to his time in the Marine Corp.
Bill served in Vietnam from 1965-69 with the Mass II, Marine Air Support Squadron which was part of 1st Marine air wing. He was stationed about 8 miles out of DaNang – at Freedom Hill – he was there during the TET Offensive in 1968.
He rarely, if ever, talks about his time in Vietnam.
Imagine his shock when his wife, Marilyn, told him she got a call from a woman who said she thought she had one of Bill’s dog tags. The woman, Sue Quinn-Morris, was with the POW/MIA Awareness Committee of NJ, and had tracked Bill down with the help of his wife’s interest in social media – Facebook. She texted a photo of the dog tag to Marilyn – a perfect match to the one dog tag that Bill did bring home with him from Vietnam.
Ritenour explained that when they were on patrol, some guys would put black tape around their dog tags to prevent them from clanging – making noise. However, he used to put one in his pocket and that’s how he lost his.
Ritenour’s dog tag was brought home from Vietnam in 1993. While volunteering in Vietnam as a logistics support coordinator for Operation Smile, a medical mission traveling the globe to Third World countries to perform corrective surgery on children with cleft palates and cleft lips, Ray Milligan, a retired Deptford, N.J police chief and a former Force Recon Marine who served in Vietnam, came across a vendor near his hotel selling old rusty American dog tags as relics of war. Milligan decided he would purchase all of them and, with the help of several South Jersey veterans’ organizations, around 90 dog tags were returned.
Eventually though, they had no more time to spend on the project – and about 375 remaining dog tags were handed over to the POW/MIA Awareness Committee of N.J. last year. The POW/MIA Awareness of NJ Director of Research, Sue Quinn-Morris, continues to reunite dog tags with veterans and their families.
“What we have done different with this project since receiving the dog tags, is to ensure that each dog tag, when welcomed, is hand delivered to the veteran – by a fellow veteran – brother to brother, ” Quinn-Morris stated,” To ship their dog tag off in the mail seems to reminiscent of how our Vietnam Veterans came home…..imagine the veteran opening his mail, his dog tag falling out into his hand…no thank you, no fanfare….left there, alone, once again, to face whatever memories may arise. It just doesnt feel right. Our Vietnam veterans deserve more then that.”
Quinn-Morris added,” While saying thank you now, some 40 years later, isn’t going to make everything better, perhaps it will give some peace or closure, at least that is my hope.
So with the help of organizations such as the Nam Knights of America MC, VFW’s, Warriors Watch, American Legions and others, they continue on, in hopes of returning each and every dog tag – either to the veteran or their families.
Bill’s dog tag return arrangements are under way – stay tuned for details of return.
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5/14/2012 – Ron Colucci – American Legion Riders – leaves NJ to hand deliver dog tag of Bill Ritenour to Bob “Topp” Pavlik – Nam Knights of America MC – Cape Fear Chapter. The Cape Fear Chapter will be hand delivering Bill’s dog tag to him in the coming weeks….
5/16/2012 -. On Wednesday between 9:30 & 10 am Bill Ritenours dog tag that was lost in Vietnam will arrive from New Jersey (Ron Colucci/American Legion Riders) and presented to the Cape Fear Chapter of Nam Knights for delivery to Bill, this will be held at Flatline Customs in Castle Hayne. Bob will be hand delivering Bill’s dog tag to him in the coming weeks…details to follow.,,,for more information about the Bill Ritenour Dog Tag return, click here
Vietnam vet gets dog tag back 40 years later – Ritenour
GREENVILLE, N.C. – An emotional ceremony in a Pitt County court room Friday afternoon as Vietnam vet Bill Ritenour got his missing dog tag back from more than 40 years ago.
While on a 13 month tour of Vietnam, Ritenour lost one of his two tags.
Back in the early 90′s an American police chief was in Vietnam and saw that a Vietnamese man was selling U.S. service members dog tags so he bought them all and began the process of getting them to their rightful owners.
“It’s hard to explain, I just feel so great, finally, finally, after all these years,” said Bill Ritenour, who got his dog tag back. “This was my welcome home.