Lost Dog Tag Owner “Martinson” Found

A dog tag found two years ago by an Australian teacher will soon be reunited with its owner thanks to the work of an active-duty Marine.

Though an image of the tag is still circulating on social media with requests to share until the owner is found, the sharing is now unnecessary as Lanny Martinson was found to be alive and living in Texas, and will soon receive his long-lost dog tags.

The image below is continues to be shared on social networks, and shows the tag belonging to Martinson:

 

The caption reads: “Trying to find this person. This dog tag was found in Vietnam 2 years ago by an Australian teacher. His name is not on the wall. Pass it around till he is found.”

The tag was discovered two years ago by teacher John Naismith who found it in Vietnam in a now-overgrown air strip used during the war.

As I was walking through the undergrowth, I saw something bright shining in the sunlight. I reached down, cleared away the dirt, and found the dog tag. I could not believe it.

With the help active-duty Marine Jashua Laudermilk, the owner of the tag was located in about a week.

Lanny Martinson posted a thank you note online:

First of all THANK YOU to everyone involved. This whole story is unbelievable. It’s ironic that on June 10th I went online to grunt.com and ordered a set of dogtags as I didn’t have mine. Then on the 13th to find out that John had found one of them just blew me away. I can’t thank enough, all of the people that took time out of their lives to return my tag to me. It’s like a piece of me was returned from the past. THANK YOU THANK YOU. Lanny

Although the owner has been found, the image – and the now-unnecessary call to find the owner – continues to be shared in massive numbers. The image as of this writing has nearly 175,000 shares.