Dog Tag Returned to Vietnam Veteran Bruce Cady
The news came as quite a surprise for Bruce Cady – a woman from a New Jersey organization had his dog tag and wanted to return it.
Cady, a Vietnam veteran, in Washington state, doesn’t recall loosing his dog tag.
Cady’s dog tag began it’s journey home after British Army/Navy veteran, Aaron Bougourd, received it from the family of Major Thien in 2006. Bougourd had been volunteering for the Father Ray Foundation Orphanage in Thialand when he met Major Thien, and helped him find his lost family in Vietnam. Thien, a South Vietnamese officer living as a refugee. Major Ly Kim Thien was commissioned as an officer of the Republic of Vietnam Air Force in 1964 and served in several capacities throughout Vietnam up until the fall of Saigon in 1975. It was after this that he was sent to a communist reeducation camp, where he was tortured and forced to denounce his anti-communist beliefs. In 1994 he escaped Vietnam on foot through Cambodia and on to Thailand, which is where Aaron Bougourd met him. Thien’s family, as a token of appreciation, gave Bougourd some dog tags they had found at Ben Hoa Air Base.
Aaron, now a resident of the UK, reached out and sent some of the dog tags to Patriot Connections Dog Tag Project to help return them.
Cady, after learning of his dog tags journey home, was excited and appreciative as we were able to reunite him with his dog tag just in time for the holiday!