‘Nothing short of a miracle’: Marine’s dog tag found in Vietnam by Canadian tourist returned to family 54 years later

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A photo of Cpl. David Redenius, who grew up in Augusta, Ill., and his dog tag that was discovered in Vietnam by a Canadian tourist. | David Adam

QUINCY — The moment when Caroline Redenius finally held her brother’s dog tag was overwhelming.

“It doesn’t seem real to me,” she said. “I can’t identify with it. Isn’t that odd?”

Redenius and her sister, Beverly Warning, were in Smith Hall on the Illinois Veterans Home campus Wednesday morning for a ceremony during which they were presented the stainless steel dog tag of U.S. Marine Corps Cpl. David Gary Redenius. 

David Redenius, a member of the 3rd Marine Division, 1st Battallion, 9th Marines “Charlie” Company, was killed at the Khe Sanh SW of Hill 689 on April 16, 1968. He was 20 years old. He later was awarded the Purple Heart. His remains were returned to Quincy, where he was buried. The efforts of Redenius’ unit, referred to as the “Walking Dead,” earned its place in Marine Corps history.

While with a young Vietnamese man who was searching for metal to sell to get food for his family in 2007, Canadian educator and tourist Christian Dumont found a dog tag in the dust of Hill 689. Years later, he learned Cpl. Redenius was from Hancock County. Dumont reached out to the Illinois Department of Veterans’ Affairs, and Veterans Service Officer Curtis Davis found Caroline.

‘I realized I was standing somewhere where something tragic happened’

“They came across a number of items, including unexploded mortar shells and casings from an M16. Rifle,” said Terry Prince, director of the Illinois Department of Veterans Affairs, during Wednesday’s ceremony. “Suddenly, under a small turn of dirt about 15 inches down or so, Mr. Dumont saw Cpl. Redenius’ tag. As he described it, ‘I understood what it was the moment I saw it, and that moment became very special to me. Very solemn. This was no longer a historical site to me, but a place of meditation. I realized at that moment I was standing somewhere where something tragic happened.’

“(Dumont’s) gesture of returning a part of Cpl. Redenius home to his family is an amazing display of determination and recognition of its meaning to his family.”

Caroline Redenius, center front, and her sister, Beverly Warning, right, speak with people who attended a ceremony in Smith Hall at the Illinois Veterans Home on Wednesday morning. Redenius and Warning received a dog tag that belonged to their brother, Cpl. David Redenius, that was discovered in Vietnam. | David Adam

Prince also read a letter from William Rider, founder and chief executive officer of the American Combat Veterans of War and Cpl. Redenius’ squad leader in Vietnam. Rider called him “a Marine’s Marine and a true gunslinger.” 

“I want to thank (both sisters) for the opportunity to honor your brother who courageously fought in the country far away from you and his home and his girlfriend,” Rider wrote. “His sacrifice and your families’ (sacrifice) all these years will never be forgotten today. In all ways, we honor and remember him.”

Sisters described brother as a ‘typical farm boy’

The dog tag was presented to the family by Danielle Luevano, a property manager for the IDVA’s Springfield location. She was a Marine for eight years and served in Operation Enduring Freedom.  

The three Redenius children grew up in Augusta with their parents, Jake and Florence Redenius. Caroline was the oldest, and she was five years older than David, the youngest.

“I kind of missed a lot of his growing up,” said Caroline, who now lives in Good Samaritan Home in Quincy. “We kept in touch. He wrote letters. He was always good about that, and he had a sense of humor. When he was stationed at Camp Pendleton (in Oceanside, Calif.,). I was living in California at that time. That’s when I kind of connected with him again.”

The sisters described David as a “typical farm boy” who was only 18 years old when he enlisted.

Beverly, who lives in the Quad Cities suburb of Coal Valley, remembers the day she learned of her brother’s death.

“It was earth shattering,” she said. “You knew that it could happen, but you’re hoping and praying that it doesn’t. During Vietnam and how the troops were coming back physically and mentally, it was very hard to take.”

The sisters were initially skeptical when they heard the dog tag had been found.

“It was a good feeling, but yet at the same time, you wonder if it’s even possible,” Beverly said. 

Tag to be donated to museum in Carthage

Family members spoke briefly with Dumont Wednesday morning before the ceremony.

“He speaks broken English because he’s French Canadian,” Caroline said. “We had enough information beforehand that we could translate (what he said) pretty well.”

The sisters plan to donate their brother’s dog tag, plus medals and flags donated to the family at the time of his death, to a wing in the Kibbe Hancock Heritage Museum in Carthage that is dedicated to Vietnam soldiers.

The emotions for the sisters ranged from the sadness of remembering their brother’s death to the appreciation for Dumont’s discovery.

“It’s nothing short of a miracle,” Caroline said. “I don’t understand how it happened. That hill, that 15 inches of dirt where they found the tags … it’s all hard to express.

“We have a lot of sadness. I didn’t think the Vietnam veterans were treated very well. That’s what motivated me to go through this, for them to get recognition and some appreciation.”

“I just hope this is the end,” Beverly said. “I was there when a Marine came (to her home in Augusta) to say he was missing in action, and I was with my folks when they came back a week later and said his body had been recovered. Then there was the funeral, and now this. I just hope this is the final closure.”

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