Dog Tag connects two veterans

by Stealth Tue 26 Mar 2019, 12:56 pm

Holding on to hope: Lost and found dog tag connects two veterans

Heather Desveaux (hdesveaux@gmail.com)
Published: March 26, 2019

Dog Tag connects two veterans B97894770Z.1_20190326094322_000GUHNMMBN.1-1_large

Dog Tag connects two veterans B97894770Z.1_20190326094322_000GUHNMMBL.1-1_large

Larry Streitmatter in March 1959

In the military, dog tags are used to identify wounded or dead personnel, but a retired local soldier used one he recovered to locate a retired American air force pilot, who’s alive and well in Oklahoma. In the process, Greenwood’s Kirk Bradbury said he also found something else.

“What happened this week gave me back a little piece of myself that I lost a while back,” said Bradbury, who was medically released from the Canadian Forces in 2017. “There are three things a soldier doesn’t give up: their medals, their cap badge or their dog tags.”

Bradbury told the Valley Harvester that in the summer of 1998, he was dispatched to Newfoundland on exercise with the 2nd Battalion of the Royal Canadian Regiment. Pte. Bradbury reported for duty at his observation point on the grounds of the former Ernest Harmon Air Force Base (AFB) in Stephenville.

“I was kicking the dirt when I heard something ting,” he said. He saw something metallic on the ground. “It looked old, like it had been there for a while.” When he rubbed the dirt off the tag, he could make out the name Larry A. Streitmatter, a service number, blood type and religion.

Stephenville was an important outpost for the American military in the era of the Cold War. It was a strategic transatlantic refuelling stop and housed a fleet of Boeing KC-97 Stratofreighters, on alert in the skies over western Newfoundland to refuel thirsty nuclear-armed, long-range B-52 bombers capable of carrying up to 32,000 kilograms of weapons.

Bradbury hung on to the tag as he moved from post to post, which included a tour of Bosnia less than six months later.

“I always thought about Larry, what his story was, if he was still alive or whether he was killed in Vietnam,” he said. “I always hoped I’d find out.”

He made some inquiries over the years, including contacting the United States Department of Veterans Affairs for advice, but he never got any leads and put the tag away. Bradbury’s wife, Jodi, recently found it during spring cleaning. In mid-March, he posted a photo of the tag on Facebook and asked his friends to share it.

“I would very much like to get this back to his family where it belongs,” stated his post. Four hours later, Bradbury got a phone call and the voice on the other end said, “I’m Larry. I own the dog tag.”

Bradbury said in an interview he was really surprised. “I wasn’t expecting him to actually call me.”

“I’m not sure how I lost it,” Streitmatter said in an interview with the Valley Harvester from his home in Oklahoma. Two tags were issued to him in 1958 and both were on his neck chain. He said he didn’t remember if he lost the other one at the same time. “I remember I had to put in for another one,” he said.

Streitmatter said he enjoyed his time in Newfoundland, arriving as a newlywed in July of 1960 and leaving in October 1962. Previously, he’d been posted at the American Goose Air Base in Happy Valley-Goose Bay, Labrador, the site of the first United States nuclear weapons in Canada.

Streitmatter was a second lieutenant and frequently flew the Boeing KC-97 refuelling tankers to Europe.

“We didn’t get to tour around [Newfoundland] a whole lot,” he said. “But we lived in a trailer right above the bay. We used to go to the beach quite a bit because we used to buy lobster from the fishermen for 25 cents each,” he laughed. “It was an interesting assignment ... [the Newfoundlanders] are a special bunch of people up there.”

After 27 years of service, in 1985, Streitmatter went to work for Boeing, which currently faces more than 40 countries, including Canada, grounding their 737 Max 8 fleet. “They’ll straighten it out. Boeing is a good company,” said Streitmatter, who retired in 2004. “Today, there’s a lot that’s computerized and electronic, but back in my day, it was all manual.”

Bradbury mailed Streitmatter his dog tag, but not before wrapping it up in flags of the Royal Canadian Air Force, Cape Breton and Newfoundland.

“He told me he drove through Nova Scotia and took the ferry across to Port aux Basques,” said Bradbury. The two men talked for about a half-hour and chuckled as they swapped stories. Bradbury said the experience was emotional for him. In 2006, Bradbury was reassigned and went into the air force, but was released just more than a decade later because of severe post-traumatic stress disorder, depression and anxiety.

“It’s been a long 20 years,” Bradbury said. He described this time as being “emotionally dead.” His voice cracked and he paused. “It’s just ... it’s been a long 20 years. And then when you’re told you can’t do something you love anymore, it’s hard. I think we are finally coming out the other side. I hope, anyway.”

“[Larry’s] a great guy. He was in [Stephenville] before I was even born and was about the same age I was when I was there. To find he’s still alive at 80 years old. I didn’t think I’d actually find him. I’m so excited [his tag] is going home.”

https://www.thechronicleherald.ca/community/holding-on-to-hope-lost-and-found-dog-tag-connects-two-veterans-295134/