Dog Tag to be returned to USMC Vietnam Vet, Bill Ritenour
Dog tags returning to Vietnam veteran after 40 years
A Vietnam veteran who lost his dog tags more than 40 years ago is closer to being reunited with them.
On Tuesday morning, a motorcycle rolled up to the Flatline Customs cycle shop in Castle Hayne. The rider carried the dog tags belonging to Bill Ritenour, a retired police chief living in Greenville. Ritenour served as a Marine in Vietnam from 1965 to 1969 and lost his tags while on patrol.
In the early 1990s, a former Marine traveling in Vietnam on behalf of Operation Smile bought more than 400 dog tags from a vendor outside his hotel.
The Dog Tag Project (now being run by Patriot Connections) is trying to help get the dog tags hand-delivered to each veteran by a fellow veteran.
In Southeastern North Carolina, the Cape Fear chapter of the Nam Knights Motorcycle Club received the dog tags and will deliver them to Ritenour, said Bob Pavlik, the club’s president.
Pavlik has already talked to Ritenour, who is excited about the return of his dog tags, he said.
Sometime during the next week, Pavlik will ride his Ultra Classic Harley-Davidson to Greenville to present the tags to Ritenour.
Until then, they’ll be around his neck.
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.