Monday, July 19, 2010

Are you, or someone you know, on this list?

You may know someone on our Personal Effects list. This list contains names of Vietnam soldier's, who for many varied reasons, left behind personal effects which have been recovered and brought back by TOP (Tours Of Peace) Vietnam Veterans.

Ardon William Carter -- Died In Vietnam, 1966; TOP Returned Effect to Family

Most Personal Effects are dog tags, but also include identifiable pay-cards, clothing, ribbons & medals.

Unclaimed Navy Commendation & Good Conduct Medals Belonging to Frankie E. Smith, USMC

The TOP Personal Effects Program began in 1998. Many of our recovered effects have been returned to both veterans and surviving families, including effects belonging to soldiers whose names are on the Vietnam Memorial Wall. However, there remain effects that have yet to be claimed by veterans and surviving families. We also have "cold cases" where people and families cannot be found--our research and return efforts have come up with a dead end. Sadly, some of our "KIA" (Killed-In-Action) soldiers continue to be stored in our TOP Vault, awaiting someone to help us find the nearest surviving relatives, who will receive these treasures.

"Returned to Veteran" listed next to Brad Varney's name on our Personal Effects List

The return of a personal effects acknowledges the service and sacrifice of our soldiers and their families. Each return contributes to healing & closure many still need, related to the Vietnam War.

(Information Blurred to Protect Identity) Veteran proudly framed his recovered dog tag, TOP letter that accompanied it; along with his picture from that era


TOP invites you to help this cause by taking time to go through our list. We understand there are many names on the database; as we have retrieved many personal effects and dog tags since 1998. However, one of these names may be a buddy you served with, friend, neighbor, relative, co-worker or someone you know of in your community. . . or, if you served in Vietnam, perhaps your name is on the list!

Numerous tags have been returned after someone accidentally discovered a familiar name while surfing the Internet on the TOP web site.

Please also periodically re-check the list, as it changes to reflect personal effects status and recent additions & finds.

We thank all those who help TOP (Tours Of Peace) Vietnam Veterans do this worthy detective work. We hope someone you know will benefit from your efforts to scrutinize the list.