MAJ Jeffrey Hickman is one of the fulltime public affairs officers at the State Department of Defense. He posted this story and video on the Adjutant General’s and his personal Facebook page.
https://www.facebook.com/taghawaii/videos/1860646924007566
At work, I get some weird calls, UFO sightings, noisy helicopters “over my house,” and “can I get the number for the public defender?”
So when I got a call about a guy asking if we had a lost and found, to see if we had his dog tags, I was curious. I asked, “I think we do, when did you lose them?”
He replied, “1968.”
Oh, boy, this is one of those “colorful” calls. As I spoke to him, he was mobilized with the Hawaii Army National Guard’s 29th Infantry Brigade in 1968 in support of the Vietnam War. He missed our 2017 Commemoration event for our Vietnam Vets.
So with the help of the 103rd Troop Command and the 29th Infantry Brigade Combat Team, the Hawaii National Guard welcomed back Spec. Tom Peterson originally in Troop E, 19th Cavalry, 29th Brigade, HIARNG.
Tom thought he was just going to pick up the new dog tags and get a tour of the new 29th IBCT building, but there was a formation there waiting for him. We also gave him two sets of dog tags, the pin from our 2017 Commemoration with TAG Mahalo, two 29th IBCT patches and a commander’s coin from current Commander, COL Roy Macaraeg.
Tom shared his story with the formation and let us know that he never received a welcome home when he returned from war. He did THIS day. It was a special moment and an honor to be a part of.
More photographs of this event
Video and photographs by TSgt Andrew Jackson
GREAT job by MAJ Hickman and everyone involved with this event
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