A Kansas Congressman will unite a World War II veteran’s family with  the fallen soldier’s dog tags.

According to Kansas First District Congressman Dr. Roger Marshall’s Office, in February a staffer fielded a call from a friend of 1st Lieutenant James Garberg, a World War II veteran from Minneapolis, Minnesota.  While going through his war time memorabilia Lt. Garberg found the dog tags of one of his soldiers, Ernest Childers Jr. from Beloit, Kansas.

Lt. Garberg and Childers Jr. were part of the 32nd infantry regiment that retook Attu Island back from the Japanese in 1943.  Lt. Garberg had carried Childers Jr. from the battleground after he suffered injuries that he later died from.

When Lt. Garberg’s friend, Lt Col. Mike DePuglio contacted the office for help with finding Childers’ next of kin or any living descendants to return the tags to, they reached out to the Mitchell County Historical Society, which was able to track down the obituary of Childers’ brother, Dorse Childers. Dorse and his wife had a son that they named after Ernest Childers. A caseworker called the fallen soldiers nephew who was overwhelmed with emotions by the news of his uncle’s Lieutenant finding and returning the dog tags.

On Friday Childers will receive the dog tags.

While the 95-year-old Veteran is unable to make the trip, Lt. Garberg made an amazing plaque with pictures and the dog tags for the Childers family.