Woman Finds Dog Tags While Antiquing, Tracks Down Veteran's Widow 3,000 Miles Away
She found the dog tags while antiquing.
— -- A woman in California found a set of dog tags while antiquing and returned them to the widow of the veteran they belonged to across the country in New Jersey.
Kim Vincent, 47, told ABC News today that she found the dog tags at an antiques shop in Clovis, California. She then turned to the internet to track down their original owner.
"I just had his name on the dog tag, so I Googled that, and it was an obituary that came up," Vincent said. "So I looked up his wife's name from the obituary, not even knowing if it was the right lady, on Facebook."
Vincent said the dog tags had the name Terry Peiffer, along with his social security number. In the obituary she was able to track down the late veteran's wife, Linda Peiffer, of Robbinsville, New Jersey, whom she then messaged on Facebook.
"She hadn't responded for a week, so I sent the same message to all of the kids in the obituary," Vincent added.
She said eventually she got in contact with one of the daughters, who was able to get the messages to Linda Peiffer, who then gave Vincent a call.
To confirm it was going to the right family, Vincent asked one of the family members for the last four digit's of Terry Peiffer's social security number, which matched those on the dog tags.
Vincent then sent the dog tags in the mail with an American flag and a long note.
Linda Peiffer told local ABC-owned station WPVI-TV of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, that she is "in shock" after receiving her late husband's tags.
"Touching something that belonged to him. It's still, like I said, I'm in shock," Peiffer said.
"Getting the dog tags was almost a message from him that I'm not coming back. I'm gone and it was time for me to move on," the widow added.
Peiffer told WPVI-TV that her husband Terry had served with the U.S. Coast Guard in Vietnam and passed away in 2008. Peiffer said she will wear the dog tags for a while and then pass them on to Terry's children and grandchildren. "To me, Kim is an absolute angel with what she's trying to do," Peiffer added.
Vincent said she has now become good friends with Peiffer and they talk on the phone at least once a week.
"The journey of finding new friends, completely across the nations, was just an outstanding experience and I would do it over and over again," Vincent said.
Vincent added that she found two other sets of dog tags at the same antiques store, and is currently in the process of trying to track down the family members.
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