Man Seeks to Return Dog Tags From Vietnam

May 28, 2004 -- Touring the Ho Chi Minh trail six years ago, Wall Street trader Manny Santayana stumbled onto a Vietnamese man who made a living out of extracting bombs from the ground, grinding up the metal and selling it for profit. Sometime he would stumble upon dog tags from U.S. soldiers, which he would collect and store in an ammo bag under his bed.

"He had 105 of them, and he just harbored them away, thinking perhaps that they were worth something," Santayana recalled. "Well, that day they were worth 100 bucks."

Unsure if they were real, Santayana called the Pentagon after returning to home to New York. Defense officials requested the information from the identification tags, which Santayana quickly sent. "The Pentagon analyzed them within two hours and they indicated that all of them were totally legitimate," he said. "Out of the 106 dog tags, 105 of the [soldiers] did actually return back from Vietnam alive."

A Man on a Mission

Santayana says the Pentagon seemed most interested in the dog tag of Harry Beckwith Jr., a soldier killed in action when his helicopter was shot down. Defense officials requested Beckwith's dog tag to return to his family. Santayana was happy to do so, but he wanted to be part of the process.

"The reason why I bought them in the first place was out of sense of obligation," he said. Too young to have served in Vietnam, Santayana says he "felt some sort of quiet obligation to involve myself but there was never really the opportunity." This was an opportunity.

"I said, 'I'm happy to give it to you but I would love for you to involve me in giving it back to the family,' " Santayana said. "And they declined and so I respectfully declined with them, also."

Soon Santayana located Beckwiths's mother in Missouri. He traveled to her and returned the tag. "She was thrilled" to receive the dog tag, he said, "because it actually gave her an element of closure."

Since then, Santayana has returned 13 other tags to their rightful owners. But in 2003 he hit a wall. The information on the dog tags is limited, and he was not able to locate any more of the original owners.

For more information on the dog tags whose owner Santayana has not yet been able to locate, click here.

Tracking Down More Veterans

This month, with the help of ABC News researchers Lisa Chinn and John Dittmann, Santayana got some new leads. As in the case of this dog tag:

HENNINGEMIL L485683365A POSPENTECOSTAL

"I'm calling for Emil Henning, please," Santayana said into his cell phone, after ABC News provided him with a lead on Henning. "My name is Manny."

He told Henning the story about the dog tags.

"One of them has your name on it," Santayana said, adding that he wanted to check "if you are the correct Emil Henning. A-Positive? Pentecostal? Is that correct, Emil?" Henning said the information was right. "OK, you're him," Santayana said, laughing."That's you."

"Can you hold on one sec?" he asked Henning. "I just got a call."

Putting another cell phone to his other ear, Santayana spoke with another veteran, Willie Clark.

"I found your dog tag, Willie," Santayana said.

Tags Lost During Ambush

Clark, who lives in Houston, told ABC News he doesn't know exactly when he lost his dog tags.

"I remember we were running, and that's all I remember," he said. "I don't remember where I lost them, but I remember when we got back to the compound and the next day we were talking about dog tags and [mine] wasn't there."

Clark said he was going to buy a gold chain and wear the dog tags around his neck.

When Santayana arrived at Clark's home, he handed him the tags. "Thirteen thousand miles away, 30 years later, this is yours, buddy."

"That's them," Clark said. "Thanks, man. We had got ambushed, and we were running for our life and while we were running [there was] something happening — [my] dog tag must've fallen.

"Thank you very much," he said. "I'll be wearing this here all the rest of my life."

A Poignant Reminder

During the drive to Henning's house, Santayana reflected on Clark's reaction. "Seeing the beaming smile of Willie Clark was unbelievable. He could bring tears to your eyes. He just had the happiest gleaming smile I've seen in a long, long time."

Santayana was glad he had bought the tags in Vietnam. "That was absolutely the best 100 bucks I ever spent," he said, laughing.

Henning was equally happy to see his tags. "It's been a long time since I seen this," he said. "A lot of my friends didn't come back from Vietnam and it's an honor to have part of this, its the one thing I have left outside of memories. Hopefully, you'll be able to find the other people and the families of those that served and bring closure to them.

"God bless you, my friend," he said, shaking Santayana's hand. "Thank you, thank you," he added, hugging him. "I'm honored to have served for my country, and I'm very grateful that you brought back a piece that reminds me of my humanity."

The philosopher George Santayana once famously said, "Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it." Manny Santayana — no relation — remembers.

"Thanks for serving in Vietnam — that's all I can say to you," he said to Henning.

"Thank you for remembering us," Henning responded.

ABC News' Jack Date, Gena Binkley, Lisa Chinn, John Dittmann, and Judy Isikow contributed to this report.